Welsh wails over beach hut property investment

photo credit: Nicholas R Horne

Be warned. The people of Abersoch are not happy. Residents and community leaders in the North Wales town aren’t impressed with a mystery property investor who has just splashed out £85,000 in the area….for a beach hut.

The 12ft by 2ft hut has no water or electricity but comes complete with its own patch of sand. The final sale smashed the guide price of an already staggering £75,000.

But people in the town and surrounding areas are struggling to buy houses and haven’t taken kindly to ‘rich tourists’ flashing their cash. They’re now calling for a ‘beauty spot tax’ on beach hut purchases so the local area will benefit.

In the past few years, beach huts have become a popular property choice for wealthy buyers, who have been forking out thousands. Another beach hut in Dorset recently sold for £25,000 in a mini-auction, and another is coming up for sale in Abersoch, again with a guide price of £75,000. A lot to pay for a pad which is not permitted for residential use, only storage.

‘Fed up’

Cymuned chief executive Aran Jones, told Welsh paper the Daily Post:

“People who live in Gwynedd are fed up to the back teeth with hearing about these absurd prices for ugly sheds on Abersoch beach, while local people can’t afford houses. If Abersoch beach has become nothing more than a way for the super-rich to flaunt their wealth, it is high time that some of the benefits of this honeypot were transferred to local people.”

‘Surely it’s a good thing’

Am I the only one having trouble understanding their beef with this? Nobody likes to hear someone bragging about their new villa in the Maldives when they’re sitting with a warm half a lager and 20p in their pocket, but surely it’s a good thing to have wealthy tourists investing in property in the area, even if it is just a wooden box. Touch of the green-eyed monster perhaps?

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