Homes making more money than many jobs in Wales says estate agent

Many homeowners in Wales are earning more from their properties than their jobs, according to estate agents Savills.

House prices shot up faster in Wales than any other nation in the UK, growing by 13pc in the year to December, up from 12.6pc in November, they said.

The average home in Wales now costs £205,000, a rise of £26,650 in one year. This compared with the £25,971 earned by the average worker during the year, Savills said.

Prices across Britain rose by 10.8pc in the year to December, up from 10.7pc in November, according to the Office for National Statistics. This was a record increase in a calendar year, with the average property across the UK now costing £275,000.

The news comes as Welsh language campaigners Cymdeithas yr Iaith intend to hold a protest to call on the Welsh Government to do more to get to grips with the housing crisis across the nation on Saturday.

The protest will begin on Trefechan bridge in Aberystwyth on the 19th of February, 60 years after Cymdeithas’ first-ever protest at that location.

The rally follows other Cymdeithas yr Iaith protests in Tryweryn and in Newport, Pembrokeshire, last summer and autumn.

The Welsh Government had said that it recognises the challenges facing some communities, noting it is building 20,000 new homes and that Wales is the only UK nation which allows councils to charge up to a 100% premium on the council tax of second home owners.

A consultation on amending the development management system and planning policy in Wales to help local planning authorities manage second homes and short-term holiday lets ended last month.

Despite record price rises, Samuel Tombs, of consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, said that he expected house price growth to “slow sharply” this year due to inflation.

“Most of the transactions that were completed in the final months of last year were financed by mortgages with interest rates agreed before the recent surge in rates,” he said.

“Admittedly, house prices could carry on rising if households draw on the excess savings they accumulated during the pandemic to finance a home purchase. But house price growth has tended to struggle when inflation is strong, due to the resulting hit to real incomes.”