According to figures released this week by the English Housing Survey, the proportion of English owners of second homes who have properties in Europe has fallen again, with 60% of holiday homes located in the UK rather than outside it.

Ten years ago, the split was approximately even, with 51% of second homes located outside the UK, mainly in France or Spain.

Today, after Brexit – which stops British citizens who do not have a visa from spending more than 90 days in an EU country in any 180-day period – 60,000 people in England own second homes in France, compared with 89,000 in 2008.

Overall, fewer than 30% of second homes owned by people in England are in Europe, compared with 40% in 2012. The government survey also shows that buying a second home in the UK is far more popular than it used to be.

The figures show 5,20,000 households now own second homes in the UK, up from 2,79,000 in 2008, with people who live in the south-east and London among the most likely to have access to a second home, followed by residents of the Midlands and the east of England.

The survey defines second homes as properties mainly used by owners or given to others as a holiday home, or properties occupied by their owners while they are working away from home.

The campaign group Generation Rent recently described the holiday-let sector as “out of control”.

Dan Wilson Craw, the group’s acting director, told the Guardian, “It has taken homes away from locals who grew up in holiday hotspots and people who want to work in the tourist industries, making these areas unsustainable.”