Sir,
Two years ago the front pages of this county's newspapers highlighted the desperate plight of first-time buyers, and the lack of affordable homes as the housing market exploded.
Two years on, this now seems a distant memory as other headlines hit the front pages, but still the plight of first-time buyers continues and is pushed deeper into the papers' pages.
Whilst two years ago first-timers were reported to be struggling to reach up to £80,000 for a property, most local estate agents now seem to think that up to £150,000 is affordable.
I take as an example an advertisement in your paper dated June 4. A local estate agent advertised a two-bed detached bungalow, half-a-mile from Kilgetty, as an ideal first-timer's property for £149,950.
Considering that the average wage in this county seems to be approximately £10,400 a year (to calculate this I have used advertised vacancies and the pay offered), if you use five times the yearly wage to obtain the mortgage, before taking into account other costs, the purchase price of this house is beyond reach.
Other estate agents are also displaying similar advertisements, with the added 'ideal investment', 'ideal buy to let' or 'ideal holiday home'. Unfortunately, for families on low incomes, the rents are just as much or higher than a mortgage repayment.
Some would say to use the local housing associations. Unfortunately, the level of funding offered to them by the Welsh Assembly Government only allows a childless couple funding to purchase, at current market value, a small flat.
Questions need asking and answering. Where do these ridiculous prices for properties come from? Market forces are not an acceptable excuse. And why are builders and developers erecting £200,000-plus executive style homes and estates all over this county when the vast majority of politicians in Pembrokeshire are saying this is a poor county. Who is purchasing these properties?
Name and
address supplied.