Increased demand for seaside properties has been seen across the UK over the past year, as thousands have upped sticks and moved to the countryside or coast. Now, it appears that beach huts are the new ‘des res’ for coastal dwellers. Often little bigger than garden sheds, these seafront huts are being snapped up for record prices. In July 2020, a hut measuring just 12ft by 10ft on Mudeford Spit, Dorset, sold for the record-breaking sum of £325,000 – the price of a family home elsewhere.

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While this astonishing sale was the exception rather than the rule, the average beach hut will still set you back by more than £36,000 in 2021 – a 41% increase compared with last year11. Property site OnTheMarket reported that website visits to view beach huts had increased by 259% in the six months to March 2021.

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A spokesperson for the website commented, “Having spent significant amounts of time at home under lockdown restrictions, it’s no wonder that increasing numbers of pent-up Britons are now attracted to the idea of buying a beach hut to own a slice of the outdoors. And while many people may be reluctant to travel abroad this summer […], it seems likely that the popularity of Britain’s beach huts is set to increase even further.”

11Hoo, 2021