ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Australian second homes (typically called “holiday homes”) within a comparative historical framework exploring growing overlaps between private leisure consumption and investments within land, housing and commercial holiday markets. Early second home developments were typically informal structures in unregulated environments. Second home ownership grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, with more formally built structures regulated by building control and land use planning. Commentators in the 1970s expected substantial future growth over the rest of the twentieth century but this did not occur; rather, holiday homes have changed and diversified within a changing socio-economic and demographic context. The Australian housing system has undergone many changes which also have affected leisure-related investment in dwellings. Contemporary Australian holiday homes, primarily located in coastal areas, have moved increasingly up-market and emerged as a hybrid form of dwelling ownership involving use for private leisure and commercial letting, exemplified by the recent establishment of the Holiday Rental Industry Association. These changes have generated new debates about holiday homes in relation to local communities, including the fiscal basis of local government, land use planning and conflicts between “permanent” and “temporary” residents in areas with a high incidence of holiday homes. Examples of developments, issues and debates are provided from South Australia, where the author has conducted extensive fieldwork.
