Llanelli affordable homes success
Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board Member for Housing, Councillor Hugh Evans, made a special visit to a development of affordable homes in Llanelli this week to find out more about the secret of its success.
The development at Cwrt y Wern is part of a partnership between Grŵp Gwalia and Carmarthenshire County Council to build more affordable homes in the county. The apartments were originally for sale under a low cost home ownership initiative, however, difficulties in the housing market with finance hard to come by, coupled with the need for substantial deposits, saw potential purchasers being unable to secure mortgages. In response to these conditions Grŵp Gwalia launched an exciting and innovative tenure called Try Before You Buy in October.
Try Before You Buy has proved extremely popular; local people who are currently unable to buy their own home because of restrictive market conditions have benefited from being able to rent one of the modern one bedroom apartments initially and then buy a share of their home at a time of their choice within the next 5 years.
All 29 apartments have been snapped up in just 3 months. Stuart Davies, Director of Social and Affordable Housing Development at Gwalia explains why he thinks Cwrt y Wern has bucked the downward trend in the property market “Current housing market conditions prohibited home ownership so we responded by introducing an initiative which enabled people to move into their homes straight away whilst deferring the actual purchase. It is simply a case of introducing the right product to the market.”
Cllr Evans was extremely impressed by the development “The one bedroom apartments are perfect for anyone starting out on the property ladder and I’m pleased that Carmarthenshire County Council’s innovative approach to providing affordable housing solutions has helped local people who aspire to home ownership.”
