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Static caravan vs lodge ownership: which actually suits your money?

Purchase prices, site fees, insurance, utilities, licence lengths and depreciation for static caravans and holiday lodges, compared side by side with sourced 2026 figures.

Published 2026-07-25 · updated 2026-07-25 · 5 min read · all figures sourced below

"Caravan or lodge?" is usually sold as a lifestyle question: how much space you want, how plush the kitchen is. Financially they are two quite different products, with different entry prices, site fees, licence lengths and depreciation behaviour. This is the side-by-side the sales office won't draw for you.

The head-to-head

Static caravan Holiday lodge
Typical width 10 to 14ft 16 to 22ft, usually twin-unit
Typical floor area ~280 to 616 sq ft ~720 to 990 sq ft
Pre-owned from £13,995 (Parkdean) / £14,995 (Haven) ~£50,000 (Parklink); £109,995 (Away Resorts)
New from £27,995 (Parkdean) / £29,995 (Haven) £64,995 (Park Holidays) to £99,995 (Parkdean), £149,995 (Shorefield)
Annual site fees £3,000 to £5,000 £4,500 to £12,000
Insurance £200 to £350/yr £350 to £600/yr
Utilities £600+/yr £2,000+/yr
Pitch licence (new) 15 to 20 years (Hoburne) 25 years (Hoburne); up to ~30 at some lodge parks

Price, fee and running-cost comparisons from Away Resorts' buyers guide and the operators' own 2026 sales pages; dimensions from Willerby and Haven. The Parklink lodge figure is a 2020 baseline. Ranges vary a lot by park grade: Shorefield's caravans start at £59,995, double the Haven and Parkdean entry point, purely because of where its parks are.

What you're actually buying

A static caravan is a single transportable unit up to 14ft wide. A lodge is usually a twin-unit up to 22ft wide, delivered in halves and joined on an integral base, so roughly double the floor area, with residential-style layouts, and double glazing and central heating as standard on new models.

There's also a build-standard difference worth knowing. Most holiday statics are built to EN 1647, the European standard for seasonal holiday use. Many lodges are built to BS 3632 (current version: BS 3632:2023), the British residential standard, with better floor and wall insulation. One important caveat: BS 3632 does not mean you can live in it. Residential use depends on the park's site licence, and almost all holiday parks, including 12-month ones, are licensed for holiday use only.

Where the money differs, year after year

Lodges sit on bigger premium pitches, and parks charge for it. Away Resorts publishes £3,000 to £5,000 a year for caravan pitches against £4,500 to £12,000 for lodges. Park Holidays' own fee card shows the same pattern, from £3,675 for a standard holiday home against £4,745 for a luxury lodge.

Don't let "better insulated" fool you on running costs. Away Resorts publishes utilities at £600+ a year for a caravan against £2,000+ for a lodge, because double the floor area beats better U-values. Insurance follows size too: £200 to £350 against £350 to £600.

Licence length is the quiet advantage of lodges. At Hoburne, the cleanest same-operator comparison we found, a new caravan gets a 15 or 20-year pitch licence while a new lodge gets 25 years. NACO (the caravan owners' association) puts typical static licences at 10 to 20 years, with some lodge parks at 30 or more, and warns renewal is never guaranteed. A longer licence means more years to spread the purchase cost over, and a more saleable asset mid-licence.

Depreciation: the caravan's weak spot

StaticSpy's 2026 depreciation model puts static caravan losses at 15 to 20% a year in the first three years, easing to 4 to 8% by years 11 to 15. Haven has been quoted warning owners a holiday home "could lose up to 15% of its value per year". The price ladder makes it concrete: an ABI New Horizon three-bed at roughly £30,000 new was changing hands around £24,000 at three years old and £20,000 at nine years old.

Lodges depreciate too. No published, audited percentages exist for them, so treat anyone quoting an exact lodge depreciation rate with suspicion.

So which pays for itself faster?

Run both through the same ten-year maths (you can reproduce this in our ownership calculator):

  • £30,000 new caravan, resale £15,000, £4,000 site fee rising 5% a year, £1,500 running costs: roughly £80,300 total, or about £8,000 a year.
  • £120,000 new lodge, resale £70,000, £6,500 site fee rising 5% a year, £3,000 running costs: roughly £161,800 total, or about £16,200 a year.

The caravan is cheaper in absolute terms every time. If cost per year is the test, the caravan wins. The lodge argument is cost per usable year: more space, and a licence that doesn't expire mid-decade.

Letting won't rescue either sum. Haven's own Let2offset examples show letting income roughly matching the site fee at its best-performing park (Seton Sands: £707.92 income against a £701.67 monthly fee) and falling short elsewhere. Letting offsets fees. It doesn't fund ownership.

The honest decision rule

  • Buy the caravan if you're testing the ownership lifestyle, want the lowest cash at risk, and can accept car-like depreciation on a £14,995 to £30,000 stake.
  • Buy the lodge if you've already proven you'll use it 40+ nights a year, the £4,500 to £12,000 fee band doesn't frighten you, and the 25-year licence matters to your plans.
  • Buy neither until you've seen a real owner's annual invoice at the park you're considering, then run the numbers yourself in the calculator.

Sources