Wales most popular part of the UK for second home buyers, new research shows

Wales was the most popular region in the UK among second home buyers over the last 12 months, accounting for 12.2% of sales, according to new research.

That is almost twice as many as the south west of England which only made up 6.3% of second home purchases, according to research by Hamptons estate agency.

Anglesey and Gwynedd were also the second and third most popular counties for second home buyers, narrowly missing out to Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast. Conwy was also in the top 30, according to the report.

According to Hamptons, 36% of buyers of property in Wales have come from outside Wales, the highest proportion since it started recording the data in 2009.

“This has been the summer of the property bidding war, when houses became an even more desirable commodity than before, spurred by the continuing quest for indoor and outdoor space,” the report said.

“Houses, especially those with three or more bedrooms, remain more popular than flats. This suggests that the pandemic may have brought about a more lasting shift in housing preferences than was first expected.”

The report comes after hundreds of people met at the Tryweryn dam in Gwynedd this month to protest against the housing situation and call for the Welsh Government to act.

Last week, the Welsh Government said it was committed to tackling the “adverse impact that disproportionate numbers of second homes can have on communities”.

“We will work unstintingly to stabilise the number of second homes and, through the actions we and our partners take, to reduce them over time in areas where there are concerns,” Climate Change and Welsh Language minister Julie James and Jeremy Miles said.