Property prices may have gone down in Wales in recent months, but there is still a year-on-year rise from last year. The average property price in Wales is just shy of £217,000 which is a 5.8% increase on the previous year.
Naturally, as wages stagnate this means it's getting harder and harder to get a foot on the property ladder and a look around the housing market may be enough to leave any aspiring home-owner disheartened.
That said, it's still possible to land a decent-sized family home on a budget in North Wales. But like anything, there's always a catch. We scoured Rightmove to find some of the cheapest houses currently on sale in North Wales and we found a handful of potential homes that will be going under the hammer with a guide price under.
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From a three storey house in the heart of Holyhead to a former mill in Wrexham, there was quite a variety. But as you'd expect with anything in this price range, most of them need a lot of work before they're ready to be someone's new home. Here's what we found.
Normally, when houses go to auction with a guide price of less than £50,000 they need a complete renovation from top to bottom before they can be habitable, but this two bedroom house on London Road in Bodedern is a bit of an outlier.
The pebbledash frontage and the door and windows are stained but otherwise it looks like any other end of terrace house from the outside and it's similar story inside as well.
It appears from the pictures in the listing that some of the renovation work has already been started. Whilst many properties in this price range normally need a lot of work just to get to the blank canvas stage, it appears that a lot of the heavy lifting has already been done, if it was ever needed.
The living room has already been stripped down and appears to just need a coat of paint. Work has started in the kitchen with what appears to be a new cooker and worktops in place. Some of the sockets need to be fixed and there's some tiling to finish, but apart from that it's just doors for the units and a fridge that's needed from what is shown in the listing.
It's the same story upstairs with the two bedrooms and bathroom, which are in much better condition than the fixer-uppers normally sold in this price bracket. There's also a decent-sized garden with an outbuilding that appears to just need a bit of a clear out.
The house will be sold at auction on May 24 at 8:45am. It has a guide price of £35,000 with fees on top. For more information, you can view the listing here.
The three storey house is located on Station Street in the middle of Holyhead. It's listed as a two bedroom property but the loft room on the second floor could easily be used as a third.
The end of terrace house is relatively spacious with a dining room, lounge, hall, lobby, kitchen, and bathroom on the ground floor. There's also a decent sized yard to the back and a garage as well.
Naturally, with such a low asking price, there is a slight catch. As you'd expect, the house needs quite a lot of work done before it can be inhabited by anyone.
It's very much a fixer-upper and would need to be renovated from top to bottom before it could be considered a comfortable family home. The same goes for the garden appears to be a bit of a dumping ground from the pictures in the listing.
That said, there are much smaller fixer uppers with higher guide prices that have gone on sale that have needed much more work than this Holyhead property.
Whoever ends up buying the house will have their hands full, but there's plenty of potential to work with. For more information, you can view the listing here.
This one bedroom house on the outskirts of Eryri (Snowdonia) that comes with its own shop front will go under the hammer with a guide price of just £50,000.
The former shop, which is located on the High Street in Penrhyndeudraeth, has a kitchen and a large utility room behind the old shop floor and a self-contained area on the first floor with a lounge, bedroom, bathroom, and another kitchen.
Naturally, with such a low guide price, it is very much a project property and whoever snaps it up at the auction will have their work cut out as it needs a complete renovation from top to bottom.
Properties in Penrhyndeudraeth had an overall average price of £166,214 over the last year, according to Rightmove. The majority of sales during the last year were terraced properties, selling for an average price of £125,500. Detached properties sold for an average of £285,667, with semi-detached properties fetching £215,000.
Pictures from the listing show the scale of the work that will need to go into making the house liveable but there is potential here. For a one bedroom terraced house, it is relatively spacious and the rooms could be used for a variety of purposes.
For example, the partition between the shop front and the utility room on the ground floor could be knocked down to create a large living room. Depending on how the property is used, one of the kitchen's could also be converted into a regular bedroom. There's also the living room on the first floor to consider.
As well as the building itself, there's a large rear garden that appears to have been neglected for some time. There's a lot to work with and this could be turned into a space that would really elevate the property overall. The listing was added to Rightmove on December 7. For more information, you can visit its Rightmove profile here.
This four storey building comprises of a ground floor retail premises, which is accessed from the front of the property, along with a separate lower ground floor apartment which can be accessed from the rear of the property.
The building is the former Snips barbers situated on the high street in Holyhead, set to be sold at auction with a guide price of £55,000. Naturally, for such a low price the property is in need of some serious refurbishment. For this low price comes the option to create two apartments, converting the current retail space back into residential.
In the current shop space potential buyers will find a large retail area and bathroom on the ground floor, with a staircase leading up to two further floors. On the first floor there is two decent sized bedrooms, along with a living space offering views over the high street, while the top floor offers an attic store room.
The rear apartment offers a smaller space split over two floors, with a living room, bathroom and kitchen on ground floor. From there a staircase leads up directly into the bedroom on the upper floor, in what is otherwise a good space lit by two skylights.
No outdoor space is included with the property, but parking is available nearby, along with easy access to the train station and ferry port. The property is being sold by Auction House Wales, for more information you can view the listing here.
The former mill in the heart of Wrexham has gone up for sale with an asking price of £57,500.
The two floor detached property on Bridge Street, near the city centre, is currently used as an art studio. It is billed by the estate agents as "a perfect opportunity for someone looking for a large working space or development opportunity".
The building itself has a number of distinctive features that make it one of the most peculiar looking properties in the area. Next to the main entrance, there's a boarded up door that's inaccessible because it opens up to a five foot drop.
Entrance to the house is only gained via a staircase that's built into an unusual circular brick surround to the front of the building. The layout on the inside is also far from the ordinary.
The front door opens to the first floor which is mostly open plan, separated only by a staircase that stands in between two huge wooden beams, which are an original feature of the former mill. A kitchen area is located on the other side of the stairs.
There are five rooms and a toilet on the ground floor and the listing says that the layout could be easily reconfigured. There's also a yard to the front which could be used for parking. The house has plenty of potential for renovation but could be kept as it is as a slightly ramshackle but charming workshop. For more information, you can view the listing here.
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