Best Areas to Invest in a Caravan

The past 12 months have changed many parts of our lives, including how and where we travel. With travel restrictions likely to continue into the summer, we’ve seen a huge increase in interest and bookings for caravan getaways right across the UK. 

We anticipate this staycation trend will continue, meaning it’s a great time to invest in a holiday home, in particular a static caravan. With this in mind, we’ve conducted a new study to identify the best places in the UK to buy a caravan to hire out to holidaymakers. 

Looking at the most popular staycation destinations in the UK, the new ranking is based on the number of average monthly searches for ‘caravans sites’ each destination (b), the number of average monthly searches for holidays in each location (c), the number of caravans for sale in each location (d), the number of converting customers in each location (e) and the number of holiday homes in each location currently listed on UKCaravans4hire.com (f). The final ranking was developed by looking at the average ranking position across all five data sets. 

The top ten locations to purchase a caravan as revealed by the new study are:

1. Dorset
2. Cornwall
3. Lincolnshire
4. Devon
5. Kent
6. Somerset
7. Essex
8. Suffolk
9. Norfolk
10. North Yorkshire

Across all data sets, Dorset came out on top of the new study and was highlighted as the best destination in the UK to purchase a static caravan, closely followed by Cornwall and Lincolnshire. The top ten locations hint that investing in a holiday home in the south of England could provide the best return on investment.

Search Volume
Looking at the locations with the highest number of online searches for caravan sites in that area, Cornwall sees the highest on average each month with 5,400, followed by Northumberland (3,600) and Devon (2,900). The top ten locations seeing the highest monthly searches on average are: 

1. Caravan sites in Cornwall - 5,400 monthly searches
2. Caravan sites in Northumberland  - 3,600 monthly searches
3. Caravan sites in Devon - 2,900 monthly searches
4. Caravan sites in Norfolk - 2,900 monthly searches
5. Caravan sites in Dorset - 1,900 monthly searches
6. Caravan sites in Isle of Wight - 1,600 monthly searches
7. Caravan sites in North Yorkshire - 1,600 monthly searches
8. Caravan sites in Suffolk - 1,100 monthly searches
9. Caravan sites in Kent - 880 monthly searches
10. Caravan sites in Lincolnshire - 880 monthly searches

Cornwall also leads the way in the average number of monthly searches for holidays in that area with 40,500, with Isle of Wight (14,800), Devon (9,900) and Dorset (4,400) close behind.

Caravans for sale
Delving into where in the UK currently has the most caravans up for sale through On The Market, Essex took the top spot with 38. Kent (34), Suffolk (33), Devon (27) and South Yorkshire (24) make up the rest of the top five.

Booking data
Using our booking data, we also revealed which locations have the best conversion rates in terms of booking enquiries actually resulting in bookings. The location with the highest conversion rate since the beginning of 2021 was revealed to be Essex followed by Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, North Yorkshire and Kent. Dorset, which was identified as the best location to purchase a caravan, actually ranked 12th in terms of conversions since January 1st.

Current listings
The final data set reviewed was the total number of caravans currently listed with UKCaravans4hire.com in each location. The destination with the highest number of caravans currently available to book through the platform is Lincolnshire with 531 holiday homes to choose from. Cornwall came in second with 455 followed by North Yorkshire (454) and Dorset (323).

Other considerations
On top of everything we’ve highlighted in the new study, it’s important to think about the costs of running the caravan such as site fees. 

When you’re looking at purchasing a caravan, be sure to speak to the seller about other associated costs and also conduct detailed research to ensure you’re fully aware of all the costs involved.  

For more industry insight and inspiration, head over to our blog.
 
 

Sources:
(a) Semrush - data sourced on 18/02/2021 average monthly UK searches for ‘caravan holidays UK’ (14,800) compared to average monthly UK searches for ‘city breaks UK’ (12,100)
(b) Semrush -  data accessed 05/03/2021 average monthly UK searches for ‘caravans sites in [insert location]'
(c) Semrush -  data accessed 05/03/2021 average monthly UK searches for ‘[insert location] holidays’
(d) https://www.onthemarket.com/for-sale/caravan/england/
(e) Google Analytics - bookings in each location between 1st Jan - 11th March 2021
(f) UKCaravans4hire.com - data accessed 17/03/2021 total number of properties available to book

Published on March 19th, 2021

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