UK homeowners could earn an average of £15,150 per year by renting out their property to holidaymakers, new research has revealed.

Holiday rentals firm HomeAway quizzed their UK property owners and found that they were achieving average weekly rent of £842.

As many of them are renting out their own homes rather than letting a second property, they tended to do so for just 18 weeks of the year, hence the £15,150 total.

A third (34 per cent) of homeowners in the East of England chose to spend the money they made on holidays of their own, while 36 per cent used their profits to pay off their mortgage and 25 per cent opted to top up their pension funds.

Karen Mullins, regional director UK and Ireland at HomeAway, said: "Owning a property, whether buy-to-let or the home you live in, is now an opportunity to tap into an additional income channel. This is no longer seen as the preserve of the elite, but anyone across the country who owns a property.

"With staycations on the rise, the current demand for holiday rental properties in the UK is at an all-time high - property owners are in an ideal position to make financial gains through short-term rentals throughout the year, whenever their home is unoccupied."