§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 23 March 2000,Official Report, column 624W, on second homes, what change there was in the number of second homes owned between January 1995 and January 2000 in the South East, excluding London. [116776]
§ Mr. Mullin[holding answer 30 March 2000]: It is not possible to give a robust estimate of the change in the number of second homes in the South East between 1995 and 2000. The following table shows the latest available regional estimates, based on averages over the three years ending March 1999.
Location of second homes in England Thousand Government Office Region All second homes1 Owned second homes North West and North East2 31 27 Yorkshire and Humberside 19 16 East and West Midlands3 33 28 East and South East2 70 64 London 28 21 South West 44 40 England 225 197 1 Second homes in England owned or rented by households whose main residence is also in England. Excludes homes which are the main residence of another household, or which the owners are intending to sell. 2 Cannot be separated as the regional definitions changed during the survey period. Neither is it possible to give separate estimates for the 'Rest of South East' region used for regional planning purposes. 3 East and West Midlands combined due to small sample sizes. Note:
Like all estimates from sample surveys, these figures are subject to a certain amount of sampling variation and are not absolutely precise.
Source:
Survey of English Housing, three-year average to March 1999.