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£73m worth of hotels up for sale in Blackpool
THE price tag for Blackpool's holiday accommodation now stands at more than £72m.
Around 300 hotels, guest houses and self-catering apartments have been put on the market in the last 12 months.
Two years ago the total cost of hotels and guest houses for sale in the resort stood at just under 55m.
And despite a good season on the tourism front for Blackpool, the global recession means hundreds of landlords have been unable to sell their properties.
Property experts have laid the blame for the huge rise in the overall cost of hotels for sale in the resort firmly at the door of the banks, who they claim will not lend people the cash to buy guest houses.
A dozen pages of The Gazette's Property Finder magazine are littered with small, medium and large premises, many of which have been on the market for years.
From the small, six-bedroom guest houses to large hotels with 40 or more rooms, Blackpool is a nesting ground for holiday accommodation still on the market.
Martin Long, commercial property partner at Napthens solicitors in Blackpool, said the banking crisis has left many hoteliers hoping to sell their properties unable to.
He added: "This is a lot but when you consider the recession and the banking crisis, but Blackpool fares about the same as other seaside resorts.
"The typical buyers have always seemed to be those people who have built up a lot of equity on their homes and decided to venture out into something different. But unfortunately, even though some people have a decent deposit, the banks are unwilling to lend any money out.
"The cautiousness in the banks means properties which are usually snapped up within weeks have been left on the market for many months.
"Until the banks begin to lend again I fear many more millions will be added to the current prices."
Paul Crossley, managing director at Kenricks Commercial Property, agreed, saying: "The market is very quiet out there.
"I don't think I have seen through a single hotel sale in the past few months.
"There are potential buyers with cash out there but it doesn't matter how good the deposit is the banks don't want to lend.
"This is why we have such a huge backlog of hotels. I am sure had the banking crisis not happened we would not be looking at this number."
StayBlackpool boss Peter Taylor said: "We are aware there is a lot of holiday accommodation up for grabs but we are acutely aware also there is too much holiday accommodation in Blackpool. The problem we have is we need the council to make a decision on where they want to put the new holiday zones and until we have that information we are caught in a Catch 22 situation."
For more on this story, see today's Gazette
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Weather for Blackpool
Thursday 24 May 2012
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Temperature: 14 C to 20 C
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