Property buyers are snapping up homes in a seaside village that is set to be submerged under water in the next 30 years.
The village of Fairbourne, Gwynedd, has attracted a surge of people looking to purchase houses and bungalows, despite forecasts it will disappear beneath the waves.
Property prices in the village have shot up by 35 per cent in the last year, according to Rightmove. But purchasers are thought to be cash buyers, because few lenders will offer mortgages on properties with such an uncertain future, reports North Wales Live.
Climate change is causing sea levels to rise and in the years leading up to 2054, homes are to be levelled in the seaside village. Gas pipes and electricity pylons will be dismantled and, to add insult to injury, residents may be asked to contribute thousands of pounds for the privilege of razing their homes.
Compensation has not been offered to the 420 homeowners forced to abandon Fairbourne when the village is 'decommissioned' in the run-up to 2054. The village’s seawall will no longer be maintained in the face of rising sea levels and there will not be any more money spent on defending the community.
However, second home and holiday let buyers are fuelling the unexpected price surge, while recently retired buyers are happy to spend their pension pots without worrying about investment prospects.
It is estimated that a quarter of the properties are now second and holiday homes.
During the last 15 years, property prices in the village have fluctuated drastically. In 2014 when residents discovered they were to become Britain’s first “climate refugees”, the local property market crashed.
House sales fell through, mortgage offers were hurriedly withdrawn and prices slumped 40 per cent. But prices have rebounded since the start of the Covid pandemic as Fairbourne enjoyed a staycation boom.
Fairbourne appears to be thriving. With more and more people wanting to settle on the Gwynedd coast, lured from England’s cities, the post-2014 property crash made the village more affordable to those who might otherwise have struggled to find somewhere suitable.
Last November a two-bedroom, semi-detached house in Belgrave Road fetched £129,950, having sold for £45,000 in 2002. Four months earlier, a neighbouring property went for £125,000, more than three times its price in May 2001 (£37,000).
Some increases were even more spectacular: a three-bedroom bungalow on Ffordd Corsen snapped up for £65,000 in April 2017, was sold for £195,000 last July.
For a place that depends heavily on tourism, there are mixed feelings about this trend. Some people welcome investment in properties that might otherwise be left empty or deteriorating.
Others worry about the potential effect on local amenities and services.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said: “I suppose it makes sense. If you can get £1,200-£1,300-a-week for letting a property in the summer, you will soon cover its purchase price.”
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