Unless this is a joke or a grand camgymeriad, today, something extra-ordinary happened. Someone (not Taylor Wimpey) marketed the first brand new houses on Glasdir since the November 27th 2012 flood. That's after two years, nine months and 26 days. We knew it must be coming soon.
As can be seen from the above screenshot (enlarge to view), the pair of semis are endorsed as both "New Homes" and "Added Today". The pictures on Rightmove show interiors typical of the type of Taylor Wimpey houses on offer, the Bancroft. As the seller somewhat stiltingly puts it, "Images reflect typical Bancroft home but are not this actual home".
Does this mark something of a turning point for the Walled City? Are mortgages and insurance at commercial rates now available? Does this mean that there are guarantees about the new flood defence maintenance liability? Note, though, that neither of these homes have just been completed. They are unoccupied houses that would have sold in 2012 had there been no flood. They've been standing empty since then.
Post-flood, the whole site ground to a halt and it has been like it ever since. Just one sale completed (9 Stryd yr Eos, January 25th, 2013) after the flood and this was in the pipeline beforehand. Others pulled out. The whole estate was then in clear-up mode, the so-called "recovery" stage.
Interestingly, two sales completed on November 23rd, four days before the flood, at 7 & 13 Stryd yr Eos. That was it. Nothing else. By then, everything had stopped and the site took on a Chernobyl-esk characteristic.
The new two are not offered directly via Taylor Wimpey but are on sale via Property Perspective, an Altrincham-based web agent. We don't know the reason for this, though we suspect that this is because the two plots are new but not brand new, if you see what I mean. They were built before the flood but never occupied. They each weigh in at £154,950. By contract, there is currently one identical but pre-owned two-storey mid-terraced 3-bed Bancroft currently for sale at £145,000. When new in 2012, these were offered for in the region of £135,000.
But there is a problem. The marketed properties are plots 58 (centre, above) and 59. Plot 58 would have been available before the flood. It's marked as "Sold" but this was before the storm and the sale was never completed. What we assume is Plot 59 would have been, too. Plot 59 looks occupied. There are further problems. According to the pre-build plans, plot 58 is not a semi (as described by the selling agent) but a mid terrace of three. Neither is Plot 58 a Bancroft: it's a Buckley. Plot 59 is not a Bancroft, either, but a bigger house altogether, and an end terrace.
Nothing on the official Taylor Wimpey site. The red pin is Rhuthun and the purple represents the nearest Taylor Wimpey construction site (at Penyffordd, Flintshire)
Post-flood, the whole site ground to a halt and it has been like it ever since. Just one sale completed (9 Stryd yr Eos, January 25th, 2013) after the flood and this was in the pipeline beforehand. Others pulled out. The whole estate was then in clear-up mode, the so-called "recovery" stage.
Interestingly, two sales completed on November 23rd, four days before the flood, at 7 & 13 Stryd yr Eos. That was it. Nothing else. By then, everything had stopped and the site took on a Chernobyl-esk characteristic.
The new two are not offered directly via Taylor Wimpey but are on sale via Property Perspective, an Altrincham-based web agent. We don't know the reason for this, though we suspect that this is because the two plots are new but not brand new, if you see what I mean. They were built before the flood but never occupied. They each weigh in at £154,950. By contract, there is currently one identical but pre-owned two-storey mid-terraced 3-bed Bancroft currently for sale at £145,000. When new in 2012, these were offered for in the region of £135,000.
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Glasdir