Housing crisis seemingly getting worse all the time
IF YOU’RE an average wage earner, in some parts of Wales buying a home will cost you almost 10 times your salary.
Those living in the Vale of Glamorgan are currently facing the biggest discrepancy between average annual income and house prices, with the average property going for 9.9 times more than the average annual income at the end of last year. People in four other local authority areas would also need to pay more than nine times their annual wages on average to afford a house.
“They say that this [moving house] is one of the most stressful things you go through, but it’s even more so with the shifting goal posts,” said Meirion Roberts, who is currently looking for a home for his growing family on the outskirts of Aberystwyth. Ceredigion is currently one of the areas in Wales with the biggest discrepancies between wages and house prices.
In 2020, houses in Monmouthshire were sold on average for around 9.8 times the average income of the area, the highest after the Vale of Glamorgan. In Cardiff, this figure was 9.3, and in both Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire it stood at nine.
Across Wales, in December 2020, the average house sold for around eight times the average annual income. Other local authorities above this average were Anglesey, where a typical property sold for 8.6 times the average annual income in December 2020, and Conwy, where they sold for 8.4 times the average income. In Newport, Flintshire and Powys this figure stood at 8.2.
Wales also saw the largest annual house price growth of all four UK nations last year. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, house prices in Wales rose by 10.7% in the year to December 2020.
Speaking with WalesOnline in February, Carol Peett, managing director of West Wales Property Finders, said there were three main types of buyers she believed were driving the current demand in the Welsh housing market. According to Ms Peett, these were people who were Welsh but lived elsewhere and wanted to come home, house hunters who wanted to move away from the city and find somewhere in a quieter location, and people looking for second homes.
The buying of second homes has become a contentious issue across certain parts of Wales. Earlier this month, a historic chapel in Gwynedd sold for £257,000 at auction, almost double its asking price. The chapel, Capel Bethania in Pistyll, had found itself at the centre of a raging debate around second homes in the area after it was listed as a “holiday home” by website Auction House UK.
In April, Gwynedd Council doubled tax on holiday homes and longterm empty homes in the area, and Welsh language group Cymdeithas yr Iaith has also launched a campaign in response to the issue.
“The right to live at home is completely fundamental if we are to ensure the continued viability of our communities, but unfortunately, young people are facing impossible barriers to settle in their own communities in all parts of Wales,” said Osian Jones of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s ‘Nid yw Cymru ar Werth’ campaign.
He added that Wales had a “housing system that doesn’t work for our communities and that has now developed into a national housing crisis.”
One of the major concerns in some parts of Wales, especially in places such as Gwynedd, Anglesey and Ceredigion, is the threat that rising house prices pose to Welshspeaking communities by pricing out local residents.
“If we continue to delay, Welsh will not survive as a community language,” said Mr Jones.
Another issue caused by Wales’ increasing house prices is the fact that the goal posts for buyers are constantly moving.
“Houses that we were looking at back at the end of 2019 and at the beginning of 2020, four-bedroom houses... we were looking at the £300,000 mark,” said Meirion Roberts, who lives in Penrhyncoch, a few miles north east of Aberystwyth, with his wife and two young children. “Those houses now are going for in excess of £350,000.”
Three years ago, at the beginning of 2018, the average house price in Ceredigion stood at just under £180,000. The average house price today is up £20,000, at just under £200,000.
“We don’t want to leave the area,” added Meirion, 37. “I’m a university lecturer in Aberystwyth University and my wife is a primary school teacher, but we’re struggling to buy a family home. There’s nothing between where we are now, around £180,000, and £350,000.”
With their young children growing, the Roberts family are in need of more space than they currently have. However, they are unsure of what this means for them if they can’t afford anything in the local area.
“Now that we’re settled down, I don’t want to move again,” said Meirion.
In Newport, the situation is similar.
“We moved to the area about eight years ago now,” said Michael Hill, who lives in Underwood on the outskirts of Newport with his young family. “At the time I wasn’t earning a massive amount so buying wasn’t really an option, so we rented.”
Michael, 29, currently rents a house in the village for around £500 a month, while saving for a deposit to buy a property at the same time. However, he explained that the increasing price of rental properties and properties to buy in the area was worrying him.
In the time that he has lived in Underwood, the property market there has altered significantly. Most noticeable of all, thinks Michael, is the impact that the scrapping of the Severn Bridge tolls has had on Newport.
“The bridge tolls disappeared, and with this location being where it is, it was perfect for commuting to Bristol,” he said.
Michael explained that he was lucky in terms of his landlord, who agreed in their contract to only raise the rent in line with interest rates. But he added that he wasn’t sure what would happen should his landlord decide to sell the property when his contract ends next year.
“If our landlord decided to sell, we would either have to buy or move out of the area,” he said. And, given the rising house prices, buying something is looking increasingly difficult. “It’s not just the house prices raising, it’s the lack of wages rising. It is definitely a case of catchup... and it always seems to outpace you.”