Cornwall has become the local authority with the most second homes in the country, after new figures revealed the extent of holiday home ownership across England and Wales.
Almost 23,000 people living elsewhere in the country have a second address in Cornwall – nearly half of them officially described as "holiday homes".
Figures from the office of national statistics showed that 22,997 people listed a second home in Cornwall in the 2011 census. The authority also recorded the greatest number of holiday homes, according to the nationwide report, with some 10,169 used for holidays.
Mark Kaczmarek, cabinet member for housing and planning at Cornwall Council, pointed to the 27,000 people on the housing register looking for first-time homes in the county, whilst thousands of properties remained unoccupied for most of the year.
He said: "It is criminal to have thousands of properties empty for up to 11 months a year.
"This situation has implications for the local community – especially in small rural communities and it is also creeping into towns such as St Ives, Looe and Padstow."
Andrew George, the Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives, said the high number of second homes was "inflating prices above local wages levels"
Mr George said: "This is not the politics of envy, it's about dealing with the consequences of unequal housing opportunities."
"The housing hotspots in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are becoming ghost towns and villages in the winter. Houses continue to become less and less viable for first-time buyers, while local businesses struggle."
In Devon, almost 35,000 people usually living elsewhere listed a second home in the county. The South Hams – with 7,672 second homes – is in the top 20 of local authorities for the number of people with a second address, of which 3,738 counted it as a holiday destination. More than 10,000 of those second homes were listed as holiday homes across the eight authorities in Devon. In total some 130,055 people usually living elsewhere listed a second home in the South West region.
Claire Wright, Independent East Devon District Councillor, said: "Communities are dying on their feet, and yet second time buyers receive a 10% discount on their council tax. Second home ownership is spiralling out of control. This Government wants to build and build more homes, which is completely unsustainable. They are concreting over the landscape."
The figures showed 1.57 million – 2.8% of residents – reported having a second address in another local authority in England and Wales.