Ryan Reynolds turns Welsh city into a property investment hotspot
Ryan Reynolds bought Wrexham Football Club in November 2020 with fellow actor Rob McElhenney – Oli Scarff/AFP
Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds has helped turn Wrexham into a property investment hotspot.
The city was the busiest rental location across the UK this year, according to property website Rightmove, with 56 enquiries per property on average – up from eight three years ago.
Deadpool star Mr Reynolds bought Wrexham Football Club in November 2020 with fellow actor Rob McElhenney, which has made the city an increasingly attractive place to live, according to experts.
Meanwhile, landlords have been selling up in the face of tougher regulations in Wales and a jump in interest rates, which has left more people competing for fewer properties.
Leigh Hayward, owner of Wingetts estate agents in Wrexham, said there has been a noticeable boost to the “community spirit” in the city since Mr Reynolds’ acquisition of the team.
He said: “Wrexham has benefited from it; the housing market has benefited from it. There’s a feel-good factor now.”
Estate agent owner Leigh Hayward says there has been a boost to the city’s ‘community spirit’ since Mr Reynolds’ acquisition of the team – Jan Kruger/Getty Images Europe
Last year Wrexham became a city as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which has further raised its profile.
Mr Hayward said the Hollywood actors both regularly attend the games in the heart of the city, with tourists from places as far-flung as the US coming to spot them.
Local businesses have also benefited from the extra tourism, which is fuelling an economy propped up by one of the large industrial estates in Europe.
Tenants are often moving to the area to take up jobs at large companies including JCB and Kelloggs, as well as pharmaceutical giants who produced Covid vaccines.
Mr Hayward said landlords had noticed a surge in demand from international students coming to the local university.
He also said many have been selling up because of high interest rates and landlords’ unhappiness about growing regulations in the Welsh rental market.
Changes to housing laws implemented last December in Wales mean landlords now have to give six months notice for “no-fault” evictions instead of two. The Government has also been exploring options for rent controls.
Karen Evans, operations director at Monopoly Buy Sell Rent in Wrexham, said it has been a “really crazy year” for lettings in Wrexham.
She said: “There just hasn’t been enough properties to meet the demand from tenants and this has resulted in higher rental prices. Due to the sheer volume of enquiries we’ve been receiving for rental properties, we’ve had to reduce viewing times and host group viewing sessions.
“For cheaper properties up to around £900 per month in rent, we’re still seeing very high volumes of interest, with many working in the area still really needing a place to rent.”
Vaughan Schofield, owner at Belvoir Wrexham, said it was common to receive 100 enquiries for a three-bed detached or semi-detached house on a good street in Wrexham.
Across Great Britain the number of tenants chasing every available property has increased significantly over the past few years due to the gap between supply and demand, Rightmove said.
The other busiest rental locations were Redbridge in London, which had its number of enquiries per property jump from 11 to 49 since 2019, followed by Tameside in Greater Manchester and Stockport, which each had 48 enquiries per property last year.
Tim Bannister, property expert at Rightmove, said: “There are still far more renters looking to move than there are homes available which means we still expect rents to rise on average next year.
“But these early signs of a better balance of supply and demand means we predict rents will rise by a smaller figure of 5pc next year, rather than another year of double-digit rental growth.”
The number of properties available to rent is now 11pc higher than this time last year, while the number of renters looking for a home and sending enquiries to estate agents is 12pc lower.
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