It will probably come as little surprise that staycations have seen a huge growth in popularity in recent weeks due to the Coronavirus pandemic, or that prices of holidays might reflect that increase in demand. What may come as a shock, however, is the price people will need to fork out to rent an iconic British beach hut this summer during this current post-lockdown era.<\/p>\n
Beach huts date back to Victorian times when changing into swimming costumes in public was frowned upon. The tiny beach-front properties metamorphized from a wheeled contraption called the bathing machine, an 18th<\/sup>-century invention that was used to transport bathers, including royalty such as King George III, into the sea to protect their modesty.<\/p>\n By the 1930s, transport links had grown and trips to beaches were more commonplace and attitudes towards entering the sea in one\u2019s swimming costume in public changed to such an extent the bathing machines were no longer deemed an essential bathing tool.<\/p>\n However, in a reuse\/recycle move years ahead of its time, resourceful beachgoers removed the wheels from the bathing machines to create the more familiar beach huts we know and love today, which were then used as changing and storage rooms when visiting the beach. In fact, beach-loving Queen Victoria is famed for having one built at her royal holiday residence Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight in the 1840s.<\/p>\n The appeal of holidaying abroad plummeted recently when strict quarantine restrictions were implemented around the globe as the Coronavirus Pandemic swept through country after beleaguered country.<\/p>\n When the UK\u2019s lockdown restrictions were eventually eased, international travel restrictions still remained in place, leaving Brits scrabbling to book a UK destination for their summer hols.<\/p>\n This surge in demand for UK holiday lets has propelled the price of renting a beach hut to levels one might expect to pay for renting a property in some the Capital\u2019s priciest boroughs.<\/p>\n Indeed, the research found that the south coast\u2019s most expensive beach hut rental hotspot this summer was Mudeford in Dorset with prices averaging an eye-watering \u00a33,860 a month. This means renting a beach hut in Mudeford is actually more expensive than the average monthly rent in some of London\u2019s most expensive boroughs including Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Camden!<\/p>\n The next priciest area to rent a beach hut on the south coast is Whitstable in Kent, where the average beach hut rental cost has risen 4.1 per cent since last year to \u00a31,232 per month. When compared to the regular rental market, Whitstable beach huts sit between Runnymeade (\u00a31236pm) and Woking (\u00a31228pm) in terms of the monthly rental cost.<\/p>\n Next up in the beach hut rental price hotspots came Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset. Despite being the pinnacle of the regular coastal property market, the cost of renting a beach hut in Dorset\u2019s Sandbanks is only the third most expensive costing a modest \u00a3948 per month; this figure is up 3 per cent on the previous year.<\/p>\n While Southwold in Suffolk (\u00a3832) and Bournemouth in Dorset (\u00a3752) rank as the fourth and fifth least expensive areas to rent a beach hut on the south coast in terms of monthly rental costs, they have seen the most significant annual increases in rental prices of 5.6 and 4.4 per cent respectively.<\/p>\n Overall, the cost of renting a beach hut across five of the most sought-after coastal locations on the south coast (namely Mudeford, Whitstable, Sandbanks, Southwold and Bournemouth) will set holidayers back an average of \u00a31,525 a month. This is 2.6 per cent more expensive than last year and is comparable to the average monthly rents in the London boroughs of Ealing and Brent costing \u00a31569 and \u00a31502 respectively.<\/p>\n While the research above from lettings management platform Howsy<\/u>, revealed that the cost of renting a beach hut in the most sought after coastal locations could set you back more than the average cost of renting a London pad, further research from estate agent comparison site GetAgent.co.uk looked at the price to buy a beach hut. GetAgent discovered that the average beach hut will set buyers back \u00a336,688 based on current \u2018for sale\u2019 stock. This means, in general, the price to buy a beach hut is more affordable than the average UK property. However, there are some exceptions; GetAgent’s research also found a few locations where a beach hut will set you back more than the average house price.<\/p>\n As with the beach hut rental market, Dorset tops the table for the most expensive beach hut purchase location, with an average beach hut costing \u00a392,136 \u2013 that\u2019s more than the average house price in Burnley, Lancashire!<\/p>\nRenting a Beach Hut<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Buying a Beach Hut<\/strong><\/h3>\n