UK Cities Completely Berserk! "Everyone just Wants to Escape"

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You know that in America people are racing to escape the city. But the USA isn’t alone.

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Residents of London and other UK cities are looking to escape as well. Many are heading to Wales, where property is relatively inexpensive. Carol Peett, managing director of West Wales Property Finders told the Wall Street Journal’s Ruth Bloomfield that “It has gone completely berserk here. Everyone just wants to escape.”

Sound familiar?

Bloomfield writes:

With 870 miles of coastline and more than 1,500 square miles of national parkland, Wales, a country smaller than New Jersey, punches far above its weight when it comes to second-home ownership thanks to a combination of natural beauty plus affordability.

There are 24,200 second homes in Wales, or 1.8% of its total housing stock. according to research by Savills. The Welsh county of Gwynedd, which includes Snowdonia National Park and a stretch of western coastline, has the highest level of holiday homeownership of any county in the U.K at 8.4%. The second highest levels are found in Pembrokeshire, with 6.8% of homes owned as vacation properties

Agents suspect that, after months of lockdown, these numbers could increase as British buyers rethink both their lifestyle and the traditional English second-home destinations such as Cornwall. “It has gone completely berserk here. Everyone just wants to escape,” said Carol Peett, managing director of West Wales Property Finders.

“Wales has everything Cornwall offers and it is less crowded and less expensive,” she said.

Around half of Ms. Peett’s clients are second-home buyers, the majority from London. Their budgets range wildly. Some want a pretty two-bedroom cottage in a seaside resort such as Tenby, in Pembrokeshire, which Ms. Peett estimates would cost around $293,600, while others have seven-figure sums to spend on modern trophy homes.

With rock bottom interest rates making loans cheap, and riots and sickness flowing in the crowded city streets, is it any wonder people want to go up to the country?

Action line: Get out in the country for a while and flee the big city blues.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.