ABSTRACT
In Scandinavia and North America, the ‘tradition’ of owning a second home goes back to the 1930s. Because the growth in second home ownership is in some way symptomatic of social change, an understanding of this change must go some way towards explaining the growth phenomenon. The patterns of social change generating the effective growth in second home ownership over the last fifty years have also influenced the types of socio-economic groups making acquisitions. Increases in demand since the war have gone hand-in-hand with a democratisation of second home use and a continuation of this trend in the 1970s meant that the ‘pool’ of households possibly seeking second homes was potentially huge. Clearly, patterns of socio-economic change in both the importing and exporting regions create the favourable supply and demand conditions described above whilst at the same time, combine with processes of personal decision-making, to generate motivation, turning potential demand into effective demand.
