Higher UK airport taxes from February to reduce carbon emissions could impact the prices of properties, according to an international estate agency.‘There has been more discussion and calls for action recently over the impact that air travel is having on the environment,’ they say, ‘And one of the most obvious ways to cut air travel is to raise the price of travelling through taxes. It’s a win-win situation for governments, more tax revenue and being seen combating global warming at the same time. It’s only a matter of time before cheap air fares on the scale we see it today comes to an end’.Owning a second home and a property abroad has shown to be an aspiration for the majority of UK residents by recent surveys, and low cost carriers have opened up new overseas property markets by flying to destinations not covered by other airlines, or forcing flight prices down where they compete directly with more established carriers.Property prices within a one hour drive of regional airports served by the low cost airlines have tended to escalate in recent years, and it is these areas that would be hardest hit by any increased taxes on flying.
The areas which would feel least impact according to the estate agency would be northern France, which many UK second home owners access via ferry and the Channel Tunnel, and areas where owning a property abroad was in vogue long before the new airlines started, and when air fares were proportionately higher than they are today. Access to France from the UK has improved recently with Eurotunnel cutting the journey time by twenty minutes.But there is a warning that the lower priced end of the market could be hit more than the top end.