Skip to main content

Welsh house prices

Disturbing article yesterday on house price falls in Wales.

It suggests that Wales has done better than the UK average during the last few years in terms of the value of housing, with Welsh house prices increasing by 188 per cent since 1998, slightly higher than the UK average of 176 per cent. However, this trend is reversing just as quickly

According to the latest figures from the Land Registry for property transactions completed in April, the average home now costs £153,864, some 5.9 per cent down in a month.

Those areas which have had 10 per cent price decreases include Merthyr Tydfil and Pembrokeshire which means that any young person in those areas who has saved up a small deposit to buy their first home are already in negative equity.

Other counties which look set to follow this trend include Torfaen, Conwy, Swansea and Newport."

Comments

Anonymous said…
I am sure Plaid's £5k grant will really help this situation. NOT!
June 23, 2008 10:13 pm
Normal Mouth said…
Those areas which have had 10 per cent price decreases include Merthyr Tydfil and Pembrokeshire which means that any young person in those areas who has saved up a small deposit to buy their first home are already in negative equity.

On the other hand, housing is becoming more affordable for those who can secure a mortgage.
June 24, 2008 6:48 am
Anonymous said…
New house building starts are falling, as we might expect, which added to the mothballing by big house builder companies that I'm hearing about (they're putting on roofs on and making the buildings watertight, then leaving them. This is a really odd crisis and it seems likely it will exacerbate the house shortage for some years to come. Brickies are taking pay cuts, and brick factories are closing too, so where we are heading now would take a brighter person than me (I know that's not difficult to find!) to work out.
June 24, 2008 11:13 am
Professor Dylan Jones-Evans said…
Normal - it will take a considerable amount of time for that to happen and even if house prices come down by 20 per cent, it will still be out of the reach of many. However, the real worry is that firtst time buyers, like the rest of us, don't know how far prices are to fall. Would you put 10 per cent deposit on a house now only to find that its price could drop by a further 10 per cent over the next twelve months?

Bern - this is the time to get social housing stock developed. We need the houses so why not put some public funding into building them
June 24, 2008 3:45 pm
Anonymous said…
I support you on that. But also consider buying from developers desperate to sell - the effect is the same and delivers a faster result. I've seen discounts offered in the press. Whether they would sell at a low enough price depends how desperate they become. For many people, for a number of different reasons, buying a house is not a possible option. Social housing can be a very sensible choice, and we have too many families (and others, singles need somewhere to live) living in hostels and other short term accomodation.
June 24, 2008 4:19 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is
Read more

Change your business through change

All business organisations, especially entrepreneurial small firms, must cope with an ever changing business environment. However, small firms have a very limited ability in being able to control and relate to changes in the environment, although this can depend on the context of change. For example, if a major customer changes increases its order, the entrepreneur should be able to predict events and actions with regard to the timing and consequences of such a change and forecast any changes in the required resources and cashflow. Given this, the entrepreneur can undertake rational short-interval planning activity in order to underpin organisational control. However, much of the change facing business today is largely unpredictable in terms of its timing and its consequences. In other words, such change is open-ended, with it often being unclear what is changing or why it is changing. For example, the effect of the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Centre was largely unexpected and its
Post a Comment
Read more

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CREATIVE CLASSES

One of my favourite academic books of the last two decades must be the “Rise of the Creative Classes” by Professor Richard Florida.  This was one of the first detailed studies of the growing group of individuals who use their creativity and mental labour to earn a living and not only included those in arts and entertainment, but also people working in science and technology as well as knowledge-based professions such as healthcare, law, business, and finance.  Fast forward to 2022 and Professor Florida has written an updated report on the creative classes although he and his team now identify a different type of individual who is taking full advantage of the growth in digital platforms, social media, and online marketplaces.  Such ‘creators’ are defined as those who use digital technology to make and publish unique creative content, whether in the form of video, film, art, music, design, text, games, or any other media that audiences can access and respond to.  They also make their mon
Read more