In a somewhat longer perspective the growth of secondary homes in the Nordic countries has been uneven. For Denmark, and to some extent also for Sweden, the most intensive construction of new 'summer houses', as they were called, was timed with the establishment of the modern welfare state between the late 1950s and the mid 1970s. For Norway, Finland and Iceland however construction-booms for secondary homes mostly seem to have been a phenomenon of the last 10-20 years.
The large majority of the earlier secondary homes were constructed close to the waterfront in the picturesque countryside and near the major urban areas. Travel-times should not be too extensive, and should preferably allow for weekend visits. The dwellings themselves were often small, but the ground around them was usually spacious, allowing for 'healthy' outdoor activities.
Some people have always had their summer house far are away from their main residence. In all of the Nordic capitals you will find many who own houses far to the north. Travelling here might, even by plane, take some hours and by car up to a couple of days. The current change towards relatively cheap and better transport infrastructures combined with higher relative incomes has provided opportunities for the more intensive use of the housing stock in such locations. Similarly, these changes have also made it possible to buy new properties in southern Europe and beyond where prices represent relatively good value for money. One of the Norwegian families we highlight in this issue of the Journal has bought its holiday home in South Africa. Their total spending on holidays however remains lower than that of many other Norwegian families in similar situations.
One advantage of having a hytte, as they say in Norway, close to home was that it gave teenagers the possibility to go to a place where they could be away from grown-ups. At home, for many that would be impossible, since they did not have a room of their own. At the cottage, however, they could bring friends, experiment with love, alcohol etc., while learning to cook and clean, basically just training at being grown-up and living independently.
With the trend towards generally larger family-sized homes we see today, as well as the changes in both sexual mores and the availability of cheap travel to southern Europe, it could however be argued that this type of social need for second homes is decreasing. In addition the increasing number of divorces and the resultant rise in one-parent households has had a major influence on the role of the second home in family life. Research is just beginning to scratch the surface of issues of this type. This is also what Eli Støa is arguing in her article at p16.
Modern communications tools have made it possible for many, at least to some extent, to work at home or in their secondary home, as well as at their primary work-place. Are we in fact, since most new secondary homes are built with modern technical facilities, witnessing a situation then where the traditional boundaries between the workplace, the primary residential property and families' recreational dwellings are becoming increasingly blurred?
Outdoor life continues to play an important role in the context of the second home, although the content of what constitutes an active way of life has changed. While cross-country skiing was previously high on the winter-agenda, the preference in recent years has clearly been for the many variations of down-hill racing and more commercialised recreational activities.
There also seems to be an ever-increasing number of people taking up golf. Such changes have also been significant factors in the trend towards the building of secondary homes in separate areas. Not only in Spain or Portugal but also now in the Nordic countries have we witnessed continuing growth in so-called 'resort-villages' combining a residential environment with easy access to sports and other recreational facilities.
At first glance it would appear that the growth in secondary homes is very much a Nordic phenomenon. However, if comparing the number of Madrileños purchasing holiday-flats on the Costa del Sol or Costa Blanco, or Parisians acquiring a house in Brittany or a lodge in the Alps, or for that matter Muscovites buying a house in Cyprus in addition to their Russian dacha, do we not see the same developments there?
Or take the newly constructed and often empty secondary homes in countries of origin, in the Balkans or the Middle East, financed through remittances from emigration. Is the same happening in Mexico and the rest of Central America? Is it then a general international trend to acquire such extra homes that we are witnessing?
In all countries there are some people who have no home at all. Many, probably still a majority, have one while a growing number have two. Some have three and four, and maybe also five and six one could say, if the caravan and the boat are included. No doubt the trend is here to stay.
By Odd Iglebaek