Europe A La Carte Blog

Welcome to my blog, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

On the day when the predicted house price crash appears to be materialising in the UK with house prices dropping 2.5% in March 2008, Channel 4 Television screens their new series of Property Ladder, along the lines “How to make a quick buck in the housing market”.

Property Ladder I thought more like Property Snake, where you could lose rather than gain your fortune. Speculating on the property market could now entail slithering down more snakes than fortuitous ascents of ladders.

by zoonie

What about second home owners who may have funded their purchase through re-mortgage of their main residence. They may be forced to sell up as their mortgage costs increase and the value of their investment falls. Cheap access to second homes abroad may disappear as flight ticket prices increase. Airlines may decide to cut routes if demand falls, making it more difficult and expensive to make frequent visits to a holiday home.

Never mind property speculators and those with a second home, all property owners and borrowers could be affected. The Daily Mail states that 60% of UK adults plan sweeping economies in the next 12 moths. The Telegraph reports that three our of four families with incomes over £30,000 per annum plan to cut back on spending this year. This is due to increases in credit, housing, fuel and food prices. Expenditure on travel is an obvious target for trimming the household budget.

So is the Property Snake poisoning your travel plans?

I read two articles this morning suggesting that package holidays are on the way out. The first in the Guardian that the sun may finally be setting on the traditional package holiday and that Spain is becoming more popular as a location to buy holiday and/or retirement property. Evidently Club 18 - 30 are withdrawing from Benidorm as the resort isn’t sophisticated enough for its clients. Travel Daily cites a recent report entitled “Package Holidays - all wrapped up” suggesting that a combination of increasing demand for tailor made holidays, activity holidays and city breaks and the ability to go online and put together your own DIY holiday is reducing demand for package holidays.

Girona, a great DIY city break destination

What do you think? I believe that the cost of the flight is a determining factor is whether it is worthwhile putting together you own pickage or DIY holiday. There seems to be a great choice of low cost accommodation available in most destinations with companies like Holidaynights and LowCostHotels but this is only viable if there are flights at reasonable prices.

You also have to bear in mind the issue of travel protection and the time spent putting together the holiday when comparing package and DIY holidays.