Residents of Welsh town furious with second home owners as prices almost triple

Image: Hadyn Iball / North Wales Live)

Locals living in a picturesque Welsh seaside town say they've been priced out of the area thanks to an influx of second home owners.

Properties values in Nefyn, north Wales rose by a staggering 175% between February last year and the same month this year, according to Rightmove.

The average property in the town - which lies near Snowdonia - now costs £449,750, way out of reach of many first-time buyers born and bred in the area.

Residents blame the rise in second home owners who, they say, often rent out their properties to holidaymakers as a way of making money.

Even renters have run out of options, with the rare few homes available for tenants either placed on AirBnB for holidaymakers or snapped up immediately.

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Morgan Jones, 30, told The Sun he was forced to stay with his parents after he failed to find a rental of his own.

He racks up 80 hours a week operating his own bistro in Pwllheli, a town seven miles to the south.

Morgan is desperate to buy a home of his own but Nefyn's house prices appear too far out of reach.

He said: "I really want to stay here because I love the area, but unless the bistro becomes super successful, which I hope it will, I'll have to move away."

He said something has to change or there will be no locals left.

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Another resident Cerys, 24, earns £15 an hour working in a pub and says she has no chance of owning her own home in Nefyn.

She described local residents as the lifeblood of the town and said the situation feels unfair. Like Morgan she believes she'll also have to leave as she wants to buy a flat or house.

Many residents have already left and locals say the exodus has left Nefyn a ghost town during the colder months.

Van driver and dad of two Chris, 32, is in a similar position. He said it breaks his heart that he can't buy a home for his family in the area despite earning a decent wage.

He added: "Wealthy opportunists have come into Nefyn and pushed the housing market out of the reach of local people like me. It makes my blood boil."

Estate agent Melfyn Williams, who co-owns the chain Williams & Goodwin, aknowledged locals were being priced out of the area, especially the younger generation not yet on the property ladder, and described it as a frustrating and disappointing situation.

He said local economic activity was probably not "sufficient" to generate the wages needed to buy homes at the current prices.

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