No place like a second home

For those who can afford it, buying a second home is one of the ultimate luxury purchases. And in Britain at least, it seems that more and more people can afford it. Indeed, the British are buying second homes at an astonishing rate. Despite a recent rule change that permits local authorities practically to eliminate “council tax breaks” on second homes, the numbers of such properties in the United Kingdom will more than double over the next 20 years, to 340,000, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a think-tank. The overseas market for second homes is likely to be livelier still.