Residents of a pretty seaside town furious with posh second-home owners as prices triple

Featured Sponsor

Store	Link	Sample Product
UK Artful Impressions	Premiere Etsy Store

Locals living in a picturesque Welsh seaside town say they have been forced to leave the area thanks to an influx of second home owners.

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

The average property in the town, which is located near Snowdonia, now costs £449,750, well out of reach for 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 tourists as a way to earn money.

Even renters have been left without options, and the few houses available for renters have been placed on AirBnBs for tourists or bought out of the box.

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

He logs in 80 hours a week running his own restaurant in Pwllheli, a town seven miles to the south.

Morgan is desperate to buy a house of his own but Nefyn’s house prices seem too out of reach.

He said: “I really want to stay here because I love the area, but unless the bistro is very successful, which I hope, I’ll have to move.”

He said something has to change or there won’t be any locals left.

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

She described local residents as the soul of the city and said the situation feels unfair. Like Morgan, she believes that she, too, will have to leave because she wants to buy a flat or a house.

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

Van driver and father of two, Chris, 32, finds himself in a similar position. He said it breaks his heart not to be able to buy a house for his family in the area despite earning a decent salary.

He added: “Wealthy opportunists have entered Nefyn and pushed the housing market out of reach for local people like me. It makes my blood boil”.

Estate agent Melfyn Williams, co-owner of the Williams & Goodwin chain, acknowledged that locals were being shut out of the area, especially the younger generation not yet on the property ladder, describing 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 current prices.