Felicity Evans
Silver editor, BBC Wales News
Getty images
The local authority of Gwynedd invoices a tax bonus of the council of 150% on secondary residences or holidays
The prices of housing in a county where the Council introduced measures to suppress secondary residences of more than 12% in annual shift, according to new figures.
The local authority of Gwynedd, in the northwest of Wales, recently introduced an obligation to obtain a building permit to transform residential properties into two houses or vacation.
It is also one of the many Welsh tips that charge a 150% tax bonus on such properties, which passed this 100% in 2023.
The Council, Cochroon Gwynedd, said that its objective was to “increase the availability of high quality affordable houses for the local population”.
The drop in value represents the largest annual decrease in any region of the prices index of houses in the Principality Building Society, covering sales of residential goods in the last three months of 2024.
The average price of housing in Wales has remained largely stable in annual shift and is now £ 233,194, according to the Society building.
Tom Williams and his family, who live in Lancashire, find it difficult to sell the second house they have in Morfa Nefyn, Gwynedd.
“I have four grandchildren who had a wonderful moment there and it was great, we loved it,” said Williams, who has had the house for 20 years.
Tom Williams reduced the price requested for his house in Gwynedd of £ 40,000
Mr. Williams and his wife put the house on the market in April 2024, but said that they had little interest in potential buyers, despite the price drop of £ 40,000.
“I have put it on all the other properties of the village which are on sale at the moment,” he said.
Mr. Williams thinks that some of the council interventions have prompted many people to sell, while pushing potential buyers.
Cyngor Gwynedd tried to face the shortage of housing for local populations in tourist areas and has more than doubled the council tax costs in the houses of the second and holidays.
The second house of Mr. Williams in Morfa Nefyn has been on the market for almost a year
The Council also recently introduced article 4, which obliges the owners to obtain a building permit to transform residential houses into two holiday homes.
“I have spoken to many families who have had houses there for generations and they say the same thing – how can we continue with that?” said Mr. Williams.
The real estate agent of the north of Wales, Dafydd Hardy, described the Gwynedd housing market as “mixed”, with local interventions on second homes leading to “more properties that arrive on the market”.
But he said that the price of a second house was often “apart from the affordability of the local buyer”.
“What we have to see is the market balance,” he said, including “more house buildings with regard to buyers for the first time”.
What caused the drop in prices?
The new figures are based on seasonal adjusted data of the land register, but many different factors can affect the image that the data ends with paint.
Factors such as interest rates, regional employment possibilities and possibly interventions on the local housing market by advice can all have an impact on housing prices.
This means that there is a certain uncertainty about what caused Gwynedd’s prices in the year to December.
How did house prices change in the rest of Wales?
The Pembrokeshire saw the second largest annual drop in prices to 8.9%.
The Council recently voted to reduce the tax bonus of the Board on second homes from 200% to 150%.
In comparison, the Carmarthenshire experienced the highest increase in annual sliding of housing prices to 9.2%.
The council presents a 100% tax tax premium there on second homes from April.
Iain Mansfield of the Principality Building Society said that the housing market across Wales had shown “resilience” in the last 12 months.
Sales increased by 28% in annual shift, which, according to Mr. Mansfield, has demonstrated “greater consumer confidence”, a drop in interest rates making mortgages more affordable.
“I think we see a more positive perspective for people who want to buy a house in 2025,” said Mansfield.
“Price” residents
Mansfield said the “considerable” drop in prices in Gwynedd in the past year was reflected in “some of the other coastal areas in Wales”.
He said that drop could “potentially” explain to “some of the interventions that were done in the region around the second house”.
Coiror Gwynedd said that “more than 65% of the Gwynedd population was sheltered from the housing market” and that the housing shortage was a “key priority”.
He declared that he had introduced article 4 to “take better control over the existing housing stock” and that they “constantly monitored its effects”.
He added part of the money collected by the Tax Prime of the Council was used to allow “the development of new houses, the creation of sustained accommodation for those facing homelessness and grants and loans To help local populations secure housing, among many other projects “.
