Wales has a variety of options when it comes to cheap places to live. With the average price of property in Wales being just £184 195 (£70k lower than that of Great Britain), there are plenty of places to buy a home on a budget. Here are the top five cheapest places to buy property in Wales based on data from Zoopla and the Land Registry.
- Blaenau Gwent (£99,665)
Blaenau Gwent is home to the town of Abertillery, with the second-cheapest average price per square metre in Wales at £873. Sadly, Blaenau Gwent was reported as having the highest level of severe child poverty in Wales, alongside the third-lowest life expectancy for men and women in Wales and the lowest education rates in Wales.
Although people here seem to struggle both physically and economically with the lack of jobs available, the tourism industry here is on the rise with adventure attractions such as Bike Park Wales and Parkwood Outdoors drawing in visitors from across the UK. Entrepreneurs are also attracted to Blaenau Gwent, thanks to its cheap real estate and limited competition for businesses.
- Merthyr Tydfil (£106,880)
Famous for its role in the Welsh Industrial Revolution and building the world’s first steam locomotive, Merthyr Tydfil was once a booming ironworks and coal mine town. Listed as one of the worst places to live in Wales, the high rate of unemployment and lack of things to do bring property prices down in this area.
Despite its downfalls, the people of Merthyr Tydfil claim some of the friendliest people in the UK are found here, and the rich heritage and rolling countryside make it a “beautiful place to see”.
- Rhondda Cynon Taff (£115,708)
Rhondda Cynon Taff is home to five of the seven places in Wales featured on Zoopla’s list of the cheapest British towns per square metre. Ferndale was ranked 8th cheapest place to live in the UK with an average property price of just £73,000 and falls second on the price per square metre list at just £791. It is also home to five of the top ten cheapest streets to live on in Wales – Ceridwen Street with properties for just £39,950, High Street, East Road, The Avenue, and Blaenllechau Road.
Other towns here which landed on the cheapest per square metre list include:
- Mountain Ash (£99,068/£901per m2)
- Pentre (£99,977/£912per m2)
- Tonypandy (£99,513/£945per m2)
- Treorchy (£96,408/£969per m2)
- Neath Port Talbot (£126,900)
Also featured on the list of the worst places to live in Wales is Port Talbot. With cheap houses along the seafront, the industrial town of Port Talbot is known for the sprawling, smoking steelworks which have been gradually declining over the years. Despite the natural beauty of the surrounding parks, hills, and golden beaches, the factory dominates the area, lowering property prices here.
There is hope however, with the opportunity to invest in a sea-view house for a more affordable price attracting buyers from all over the UK to the community on Swansea Bay.
- Caerphilly (£146,602)
The seventh town in Wales on the cheapest-per-square-metre list is Bargoed (£103,428/£991 per m2). However, the bargain price tags come at an additional cost: air pollution in Caerphilly is among the worst in Wales, with research warning that living here is equivalent to smoking about 100 cigarettes every year. To top it off, two of the ten most deprived areas in Wales are located in Caerphilly, but the Valleys Taskforce is working on improving quality of life while eradicating poverty.
Life here is not all bad, though. It is known for housing the largest castle in Wales, Caerphilly Castle, as well as its Caerphilly cheese and being Tommy Cooper’s birthplace. With the Heads of the Valleys on one side and Cardiff on the other, Caerphilly is a “lovely place to live” in a more rural area closely connected to the capital of Wales.
