Congratulations to Gwynedd, Wales, where the local council’s policies have lowered house prices. This should be the ultimate aim of all the housing and planning initiatives of this government – whether through “cutting red tape”, “kickstarting” the construction industry with publicly funded incentives, talking about far in the future new towns, or promising unfeasible numbers of new homes.
So far, these haven’t worked. But Cyngor Gwynedd, by charging a 150% council tax premium on second homes, and requiring planning permission to use a property for holiday lets, has succeeded.
