Housing market in Welsh town shows wider woes

During a bustling lunch hour in this Welsh commuter town, 25-year-old Richard Williams is one of the few who pause to look at properties for sale in a real-estate agent's window _ and he isn't buying.

'I'd love to, but I'm single and I can't afford to buy anything on my own, nobody would give me a mortgage,' explained Williams, a delivery driver who has just moved back home with his parents after his rent went up.

The plight of Williams _ and hundreds more like him _ has made Wrexham, located on the doorstep of the mountain peaks of the stunning Snowdonia National Park, one of the towns hardest hit by the global credit squeeze.