22% price rise: Wales’ top coastal property hotspot named
ABERGELE and Pensarn has been named Wales’ top coastal property hotspot by Rightmove.
The property website said the picturesque Denbighshire seaside town saw asking prices jump 22% over the past year to an average price of £234,613 – more than any other seaside area in Wales and third placed in Britain.
Canford Cliffs, Poole, topped the list with a 24% increase to an average price of £1.22m, with Brixham in Devon second (+23%).
Since the start of the pandemic, there has been increased interest in coastal homes among buyers. But demand outstripping supply has contributed to rising prices in these areas.
The average time to find a buyer in a seaside location is now 33 days – in line with the national average – and homes in these locations are finding buyers 20 days quicker than last year, Rightmove said.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property science, said: “Right at the start of the pandemic when the market re-opened, we saw a huge surge in demand for these coastal areas as people wanted a sea view or more space near the coast.
“There have been large periods where demand has greatly outstripped supply over the last couple of years which has contributed to the significant rise in asking prices we’re seeing today.”
Mr Bannister said there were “signs” of a better balance of supply and demand in seaside areas than a year ago as more stock was coming on to the market.
“We’d expect this to filter through to the market and potentially moderate the pace of price rises in the coming months,” he added.
Website Visitor UK describes Abergele as dating back to Roman times as an established trading centre in the area, and is still a market town that serves as a hub for an extensive rural hinterland and farming community.
The website says: “The town is surrounded by beautiful countryside it is a quiet market town, with many buildings constructed of local stone, within half a mile of the beach at Pensarn where Captain Matthew
Webb trained in the Irish Sea for the first successful Channel swim in 1875
“The beach has also attracted interest with purported sightings of a ghost ship.”