The last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic has had an extraordinary effect on the Welsh property market according to most property experts and estate agents.
Official figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) back this up, with Wales consistently topping the list of UK regions for the highest rate of house price increases.
Soaring house prices in the UK have been attributed to a combination of pent up demand, shrinking supply of stock and, directly due to the pandemic, buyer's urge to move to find more space, move to a location that is special to them or be closer to family.
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In Wales, lower house prices compared to many areas of the UK has fuelled the unprecedented rise, with the country seeing the biggest rise in average prices year-on-year compared to any other UK region.
The latest house price index released by the (ONS) for the year-on-year comparison to November 2021 indicates that the average house price in Wales increased by 12.1% to £199,877.
However, the house price index from Halifax shows in the past year the average house price in the UK increased by 9.8%. According to the bank, this equates to a rise of more than £24,500 in 2021, the largest annual cash rise since March 2003.
This has led to some buyers not even securing a viewing, some properties being sold for significantly above the asking price and some homes being snapped up without ever being viewed in person, relying only on a virtual viewing. Find out more about this here.
However, analysis of ward-level figures from the ONS shows huge local variations in some areas when it comes to rising house and flat prices in Wales.
The figures are a crude average and don't take into account the type of property sold, so the average price may be skewed for wards that have seen a small number of sales in the last year.
Increases and decreases might also reflect a change in the types of property sold, for example, if lots of new flats have been built in an area that was previously made up of detached homes.
With this in mind, the ONS figures still do reveal some interesting micro hotspots across Wales.
Llangernyw in Conwy saw property prices increase faster than anywhere else in Wales in the year to June 2021 on a neighbourhood level, with the average home there selling for around £310,000.
That was up by more than double the average sale price of £145,000 the year before, and more than five times the £56,000 you would typically have paid in the area in the year to June 2001.
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Also making it into the top five neighbourhoods for price growth is Solva in Pembrokeshire.
The average property there sold for £385,000 in the year to June 2021, having doubled from £190,000.
Top ten fastest house price growth neighbourhoods in the year to June 2021:
It was followed by Gurnos in Merthyr Tydfil, where a typical home sold for £145,000, up by 99% from £73,000 the year before.
Sealand in Flintshire, where the average price was £232,995, up 90% from £122,500, and Garth in Gwynedd, where homes sold for £235,000 on average, up 88% from £125,000, also make it into the top five.
House prices in Llangernyw still don't come anywhere near the most expensive in Wales though, despite that neighbourhood's hefty increase.
The ward that is the most expensive in the nation can be found in Llanbadoc in Monmouthshire, where the average house sold for £565,000 in the year to June 2021. This is up by 33% from £423,750 the year before.
Most expensive neighbourhoods in the year to June 2021 in Wales:
The county as a whole is the most expensive area of Wales to buy a home according to the latest ONS figures.
Monmouthshire has a current average house price of £293,200.
But your income will need to be £48,900 per annum if you are a sole purchaser, that is, if you're not buying with another person and so sharing the mortgage cost.
Still looking at county rather than neighbourhood level, the latest ONS figures also show that Ceredigion has the current highest house price growth.
Ceredigion is the latest county of Wales to show the highest growth in annual average house prices, with a 24.6% increase recorded. The average house price in this coastal county is, according to the ONS, £247,529. Find out more about that here.
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