Quote:
Originally Posted by Taf
The locals seem to forget that the homes were sold by locals in the first place, or were new builds paid for by the "incomers".
Lies and rhetoric from Plaid Cymru and Welsh Labour paint a picture of locals being "priced out of the housing market" and "the Welsh language being diluted by incomers" have been shown to be false again and again. Locals are in the buy-to-let game, and locals are moving away to find work away from the deserts of employment. Whilst relying on tourism for income, the same locals are moaning about tourists being there in the first place.
A huge growth industry in the same areas is chicken farms. The owners take advantage of unemployment rates to take on workers at Minimum Wage levels. But locals aren't interested, so "incomers" take the jobs. So the locals have something else to moan about, and the politicians are there to whip up the flames to gain support.
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Some of this is true but if there are disincentives to sell for holiday homes (VAT on the price tag) that deflates the prices and lessens the reason to sell for that purpose.
The picture is complex and "locals" do need local, all season employment as well as keeping pricing and services affordable to that local economy. I think a problem is that the changes are too rapid and things get unbalanced. The problem isn't money coming in, building up an economy, allowing locals to build up too but that a sudden inrush of money changes things too fast and there is no integration in either direction. Locals (feel) pushed out, priced out and those coming in don't then have a community to become part of and to contribute to. I have less time for those who buy up property just for investment and don't use it or only use it infrequently and don't want to be part of a community.