Revealed: £1.1 billion of second homes in the West Midlands

For the West Midlands, where there are an estimated 4,665 second homes, it is £1.14bn.

GetAgent analysed the latest data from the Office for National Statistics on second home home ownership levels, before looking at the estimated value of the second home property market based on the latest house price data from the Governments UK House Price Index.

The research shows that there are some 141,245 second homes currently found across the property market in England and Wales.

Flats are the most common type of second home, accounting for 42 per cent of all second home market stock. Detached houses (23 per cent) and terraced homes (21 per cent) also prove popular among second home homebuyers, while semi-detached homes are the least prevalent second home property type, accounting for 13 per cent of market stock.

In Wales there are 14,040 second homes amounting to £3.28bn including 885 in Powys (£238 million) and 85 in Wrexham (£17m).

Shropshire has 500 (£134m) and Telford and Wrekin 135 (£29m).

Wolverhampton has 145 (£25m), Walsall 125 (£23m), Sandwell 85 (£16m) and Dudley 55 (£13m).

In Staffordshire, Stafford has 105 (£27m), South Staffordshire 60 (£18m), Cannock Chase 40 (£6.7m) and Lichfield 20 (£3.6m).

Wyre Forest in Worcestershire has 90 (£24m) and Bromsgrove 45 (£16m).

The figures show that while flats may be the most common, it’s detached homes that hold the greatest market value. The average price of a detached home across England and Wales currently stands at £478,744, meaning the total market value of detached second homes comes in at £15.9bn.

Second home flats are estimated to be worth £14.9bn in the current market, with terraced homes and semi-detached properties worth £7.3bn and £5.5bn respectively.

When it comes to the area with the most second homes, Cornwall ranks as the nation’s second home hotspot by quite some margin. There are currently 9,425 second homes found across Cornwall, with Kensington and Chelsea ranking second with 5,355.

Westminster is the third hottest spot in the second home housing market with 4,390, followed by North Yorkshire (4,190) and Gwynedd (3,475).

Co-founder and chief executive of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented: “There are some 141,245 second homes owned across England and Wales and while this equates to a minute proportion of total dwellings, the issue is that they are largely concentrated within certain areas of the market such as London and the South West.

"So it’s understandable that second home ownership is a contentious subject in areas such as Cornwall, where the local population feels they are priced out of the market by those driving up house prices when purchasing holiday homes that are rarely inhabited.

"You’d need only look at the average house price in areas with high second home ownership levels and the total value of the second home market to see the impact it’s having on housing affordability.”