Cardiff has most affordable new homes – new study
Ted Peskett Local Democracy Reporter
Cardiff has the most affordable newly-built homes in Wales, while the neighbouring Vale of Glamorgan has the most expensive, according to a recent study.
The study, conducted by One Sure Insurance, analysed data from the Office of National Statistics to determine which local authority areas had the lowest median price for all types of newly-built housing last year.
Cardiff had the lowest median new housing price at £155,548 and the Vale of Glamorgan had the highest at £441,000.
High demand
There is a high demand for new homes in both of these local authority areas.
Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, as with many areas across the UK, have high numbers of people on the council housing waiting list.
It was reported in May that there were 122 families living in hotels in Cardiff and 595 families in standard temporary provision.
Cardiff Council’s housing development programme has capacity to deliver 4,000 new homes for the city, at least 2,700 of which will be council homes.
The council also announced in June 2023 that it will pursue a future development plan that could mean the construction of 26,400 homes in the city over the next 13 years.
However, the need for homes in the short term is great, with about 9,000 people currently on the council’s housing waiting list.
A Vale of Glamorgan Council report published in February stated there were more than 6,200 people on the council housing waiting list.
The report also showed 19% of those on the list were in the highest need categories, included people fleeing domestic abuse and those with a life-threatening or life-limiting medical condition.
“Record numbers”
Vale of Glamorgan Council’s operational manager for public housing services, Nick Jones, told members of a council scrutiny committee in February that there were record numbers of people people seeking help from the council with housing.
At that time, the council said it was seeking to continue its use of the Rhoose Holiday Inn Express to house people for another year.
As part of its preferred strategy for future development, Vale of Glamorgan Council estimates that it will need to build 7,890 homes by 2036.
In One Sure Insurance’s study, Cardiff was followed by Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire as the local authority areas with the lowest median new housing price.
According to the ONS data, Swansea had a median new housing price of £185,000, In Carmarthenshire, it was £225,000 and in Pembrokeshire it was £240,000.
In terms of the areas with the highest median new housing prices, Vale of Glamorgan Council was followed by Newport (£379,995), Conwy (£371,250) and Monmouthshire (£348,248).
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Yet to find out – is any authority in our more densely populated areas getting anywhere with repurposing vacant properties ? It resurfaces from time to time as a subject that causes outrage among those politicians and influencers who look for something to howl about, has bags of scope for a worthwhile impact, yet we don’t hear any good news which normally means we are falling further behind.
The numbers quoted on the council waiting list is the tip of the iceberg. Loads more families are in inappropriate housing with overcrowding or poor conditions or both. Today Cardiff Council classes the living room as a bedroom if the home is overcrowded. They then claim the family are adequately housed. Ridiculous. Our politicians are failing us
Benefits, just benefits… housing benefits… thats why the UK is like this… keep giving, no need to work, all hail benefits… better houses and communities for who ask benefits, give, give… unbelievable
Fact is most working age people claiming benefits are also working but not earning enough to pay the rent let alone live. The benefit system today is a subsidy to business, big and small, so they can pay low wages thereby claiming to be very profitable. Large companies with ‘so called’ big profits are enabled to pay big money to CEO’s and shareholders. U could argue they gain the most from the benefit system.