What makes a cheap holiday home?

Cheap holiday homes, budget holiday homes, affordable holiday homes… call them what you will, there are holiday homes out there to fit many wallets. Whatever budget level you choose, buying a holiday home opens up a vast number of benefits and allows you to enjoy time on a fantastic holiday park for days, weeks or even months at a time. It’s a second home. A get-away-from-it-all retreat. A place where you can spend quality family time…

If you fancy a holiday home of your own but are constrained by budget, our guide proves that the word ‘cheap’ can be applied to holiday homes – but all things are relative, and what might be deemed ‘cheap’ to one buyer is not cheap to another.

How do you work out your budget?

You start with the price of the holiday home, then you add on the annual pitch fee.

Your pitch fee, sometimes called ground rent, is the largest of the running costs of a holiday home. That’s the amount you pay to occupy the piece of land on which your holiday home sits. The amount of the fee reflects the facilities and location of the park. For example, a small park with no facilities and no view is going to have lower pitch fees than a park in a beautiful location that has a restaurant, swimming pool, gym, golf course, entertainment and more.

You can expect to pay from around £1,500 to well over £5,000 a year in pitch fees. In most cases, your pitch fee will include water and sewerage charges. Electricity is metered and you pay for it monthly, quarterly or annually, depending on the park.

Gas for holiday homes usually comes in 47kg cylinders. You buy the cylinders through the park, and, when they are empty, you can buy a replacement through the park. That’s called an exchange scheme – having paid for the first cylinder, thereafter you only pay for the gas contained in replacement cylinders. When you get your first cylinder – or cylinders (most buyers get two) – you can expect to pay £70-£100 per cylinder, plus the gas inside it; around £85. Thereafter, you can expect to pay around £85 for a full replacement cylinder. Prices vary from park to park.

On some parks, gas is piped to each holiday home from a central tank. In this case, each holiday home’s gas usage will be metered and paid for quarterly or annually.

Examples of affordable holiday homes

New holiday homes start at around £50,000 and climb in price commensurate with the level of luxury and size. When buying new, whatever your budget, a key factor to look for is options; some have a list of options that you can go for – or not go for, so that you are not paying for features in the holiday home that you don’t need.

If you are looking in the pre-owned sector, you will find you can get a holiday home for a lot less than £50,000.

How to find holiday homes for sale

‘Cheap’ holiday homes for sale are in the pre-owned category. Here, you’ll find something affordable – something that suits your budget.

The short answer to how to find cheap holiday homes is online: pick an area in which you may be interested in buying a holiday home, and find parks in that area that have pre-owned holiday homes for sale.

At the time of writing this article we found holiday homes for sale at parks on the Lincolnshire coast through the Tingdene Lifestyle website. Prices started at £16,500 for a three-bedroom Willerby Salsa at Mablethorpe Chalet and Caravan Park.

In Cornwall, St Agnes Holiday Park, we found a new (2023) 28ft by 12ft Willerby Linwood for sale at £49,995, proving that you don’t always have to go pre-owned to get budget holiday homes.

At Hurley Riverside Park, on the banks of the River Thames, we spotted a 2005 Swift Vendee at £14,000, and – our lowest-priced find in this search – a 2001 Cosalt Rimini at just £2,500, proving that ‘cheap’ can be found!

Interested in more homes for sale?

Be sure to check out our other guides on buying holiday homes to make sure you find your next perfect home.