This unusual rear view of a house on Parc Brynhyfryd is the grandfather on the market, being the longest on. It even predates its July 2014 date thanks to several changes in estate agents. The owner was said to have found somewhere and open to offers... but alas! not
A RICS representative when questioned on the radio this morning said that confidence in the housing market in Wales had been high for two years. There was evidence of the post-Brexit blues in London but not at all in Wales. He was upbeat when he said that excessive demand and increased new buyer enquiries would see housing prices hold. There were pockets of rural Wales where job opportunities were poor but 90 to 95 per cent of prices were holding up.
So, why is it so hard to sell in Rhuthun/Ruthin?
As of this afternoon, of the 87 properties on the market in Rhuthun itself, 14 were marked sold subject to contract but, tellingly, 30—over one third—had been reduced.House prices are not holding up, not here.
By contrast, most properties on the books entered the market in from the autumn of 2015 or in 2016, with only a handful in 2014 or one as far back as 2013. It's certainly been worse. It is the more expensive houses which are sticking. Yet, in spite of some recent increases, fuel is cheaper than it’s ever been since 2009 which *should* either encourage or at least not deter commuting.
Local government jobs (or the lack thereof) are a major factor regarding Rhuthun, as is the secondary school. Brynhyfryd appears to be on the rise again. Is it too late to see this translated into interest and house sales or have things gotten to the point where they simply won't change, when people have given up on education in town or they simply feel that Rhuthun is too far? Will we ever return to the 1990s and early- to mid-2000s when Brynhyfryd was truly great?