Budget carriers lift values of homes near airports

The proliferation in the number of Europe's budget airlines is boosting property prices in areas close to airports research shows.

European holiday homes located close to airports served by low-cost carriers are almost half as valuable again as other properties, the results of a survey carried out by Savills Research and Holiday-Rentals.co.uk reveal.

This was a key finding of a survey which questioned 12,000 overseas property owners who advertise their holiday homes on British holiday lettings portal, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk.

The average price of a property located within 10 miles of an airport served by a budget airline was 39 per cent higher than properties within the same distance of an airport without a low-cost carrier, the survey found. The impact on capital values reduces the further away from an airport a property is located - average prices of properties located more than 80 miles away from a budget airline airport is only 2 per cent more than for those the same distance away from airports served by ordinary carriers.

Rental returns are higher for holiday homes close to hubs served by low-cost airlines, the survey reveals. Average rents were 30 per cent more for properties within 10 to 20 miles of these airports. Making money from renting out their properties was one of the biggest motivations survey respondents gave for buying holiday homes.

'The potential to charge higher weekly rents is enhanced when properties are serviced by one of the cheap airline operators,' said Jacqui Daly, associate director at Savills Research. 'This is because the travel costs are lower and so holiday makers are willing to pay more in weekly rents for a better holiday property. This is clearly important to investors as these properties are generally easier to let and less likely to suffer from long void periods.'