Welsh seaside town shoved London off top of Rightmove UK property search last year
Rhos-on-Sea, a small seaside town in north Wales near Colwyn Bay, shoved London off the top of the list for the most searched community on Rightmove last year.
Searches for the village established by Llywelyn the Great, called Llandrillo-yn-Rhos in Welsh, were up 868% on 2020, the company said.
Rightmove said these findings reflected “changed buyer preferences” in 2021, when more people looked for homes in rural coastal areas where they could work from home.
Prices in Wales shot up by 14.5 per cent in 2021, to an average of £205,579, by far the biggest rise of any nation or region within the UK.
In comparison, London had the weakest annual price growth of all regions at 1.2 per cent. Across the UK, house prices rose by 9.8 per cent.
The high house prices have led to fears that many people will be priced out of communities they grew up in, particularly in rural areas where wage growth has become disconnected from house prices.
However, Rightmove offered a glimmer of hope for those faring that rural house prices would continue to rocket up in perpetuity. They said that as the pandemic waned later in 2021, London returned to the top of the rankings.
Cornwall, rather than Wales, was the most searched for area throughout the year.
The news of Llandrillo-yn-Rhos’ popularity comes as Cymdeithas yr Iaith plan a rally will take place in Aberystwyth in February to protest the housing crisis.
The Nid yw Cymru ar Werth (Wales is not for Sale) rally will be held on the 60th anniversary of the broadcasting of the ‘Tynged yr Iaith’ (Fate of the Language) lecture by academic and political activist Saunders Lewis.
The rally will start on the Trefechan bridge in the town, the site of Cymdeithas’ first ever protest in 1963, and end at the offices of the Welsh Government.
Speakers will include Mabli Siriol the current chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith and singer, Bryn Fôn.
One of the orgainsers of the rally, Osian Jones, said: “It has been clear that recent pressure by the people of Wales for justice in the housing market and for measures to secure the right to live locally has had a significant impact on the government.”
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How depressing, hope the trend of buying rural properties in Wales ends soon. Our locals are being prized out of their own communities. They work in these places, not working from home, but actually working in the communities where they live.
Likewise, lets hope all the unwashed country bumpkins stop trying to move away from their tiny villages, looking for educations and careers. They should stay local forever, and stop trying to take from the towns and cities that don’t belong to them.
Local young people should be able to buy a house in their families community.
Smarmy market failure apologism like yours looks foolish in hindsight.
Dwedwch na i goloneiddio Cymru
There isn’t enough affordable homes for the locals Welsh government needs a policy to give locals a fair go
The reality is that the Welsh Government need to insist that the local planning authorities allocate more land for new housing. It’s a matter of supply and demand.
Any new development will have to include at least 25-30% affordable housing for local people funded by the developer not the council or government . It’s time to realise that new housing is not bad if located where needed. It also stimulates the local and regional economy. Wake up!!!
English corporations build our houses now…. they look as dull and cloned as any new development in the English east midlands.
What happened to sustainably sourced local architectural styles
Stop all second homes in wales 🏴 it’s time for a new wales 🏴 kick all English party’s out of wales 🏴
I am Welsh through and through Ancestry DNA has me as 100% Welsh I made life in England because there were no jobs in Wales. Can I not connect with my homeland. Wales cannot be parochial. Can my kids get a welcom in the hillside
The lack of Welsh jobs is BECAUSE of lack of just reinvestment of profits and due to deep prolonged colonialist policies
Yet somehow….you attack Wales for this!! It was your decision as an adult to go to England.
You could have made a stand in your community.
Ancestry is meaningless
No you shouldnt be allowed to buy second homes in stressed rural communities. You made your bed in England. You have to lie in it.
Many here have zero homes
That’s an interesting hypothetical situation you postulate there (including your hypothetical 100% Welsh DNA). As for your kids, bearing in mind the current housing crisis in the Western half of Wales, I’d be amazed if anyone, even with “100% Welsh DNA”, would be entirely welcome there while locals cannot afford to get a housing start in their own locality. Other parts of Wales are, however, available, and in some there is a slim chance of your kids getting a job other than seasonal minimum wage tourist employment, and of course they’d be welcome. Pob lwc iddyn nhw.
No wonder Andrew RT Davies, thinks the sun shines out of Boris’s backside, does he believe,with the huge immigration coming into Wales, since covid, is he expecting our nation to be slowly turning blue in the very near future? Imagine him as our First Minster, the thought turns me sick.
Without power, without hope
Llandrillo yn Rhos is the native Welsh name
Rhos on sea ..is an oft mispronounced disrespectful english colonialist corruption.
Anything too Welsh in history tended to be anglicised so not as to offend