Can people buying second homes in villages and towns negatively impact the local communities?

When people buy second homes in small villages and towns, it can hugely detriment the long-term residents living in the area. Towns in Cornwall in the UK for example have picturesque landscapes and this along with the hot weather draws in tourists and UK holidayers. However, these locations (such as Padstow) are not just drawing in tourists, they're drawing in rich homeowners from London and major cities who end up buying a second home in these places. Their idea for these second homes is to have place to stay in for weekends out their big city lifestyles that they can call home.

The meaning of a second home, is that it is not their main place for residency. Whether it is a place for weekend stay, or just a couple weeks stay in the summer months, the majority of the year is not spent at this home. Therefore, we have ghost houses. Empty homes which only house people a few days or weeks of the year. That is a huge detriment to communities when there are a large number of second homes in one area. Out of season, there are no full-time residents to keep the local business alive, and no real sense of a community.