Blanchard Consultancy – the independent construction consultant

The proportion of first-time buyers entering the housing market increased for the third month in a row in November, figures showed today.

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said 10.4% of all properties sold during the month were bought by first-time buyers, up from just 8.3% in August.

It said the improvement offered a "glimmer of hope" among otherwise gloomy statistics as the property market suffered from its traditional seasonal downturn.

House prices continued to fall during November, while there was also a dip in the number of sales agreed and the number of house hunters in the market.

The NAEA said the Christmas slowdown meant the full impact of recent interest rate cuts and government announcements to help the housing market would not be felt until the new year.

Read more at Guardian online

Labels: credit crunch, first time buyers, House market

House prices collapsed last month at their fastest rate since the Thirties; only 42,000 mortgage deals were agreed in the most recent figures - the lowest since records began; and housebuilders are laying off thousands of workers.

In this calamitous housing market, it is rare to find a building boss who has any good news, but Chris Chapman, chief executive of Cloud Nine, is one. Based in Redruth in Cornwall, the company has so many inquiries he is considering expansion - just about the only housebuilder to be doing so.

Cloud Nine's booming order book may have something to do with the heating costs of the homes it builds. One of its two-bedroom houses has a fuel bill of just £26 a year and annual running costs of £346. Cloud Nine is now producing some of the most advanced eco-homes in the world, at affordable prices. A basic two-bedroom house costs £88,000, plus land. For a four-bedroom detached home, you can expect to pay £167,000 plus land.

With landholders desperate to find buyers, Cloud Nine's moment has come. Its clients appear to have the cash to buy sites outright. 'We are getting a stream of people who want to buy our houses, many of whom have the finance,' said Chapman. 'We are looking to pair these up with developers who have plots, so we can create eco-hamlets, with customers buying off-plot. This is a major reduction of risk for all concerned.'

The firm has a production capacity of 250 homes a year. The houses are built in Poland on a production line, which dramatically cuts costs. Panels are pieced together on a modular basis - a bit like a sophisticated flat-pack.

Read the full article at Guardian Business Online

Labels: Cloud Nine, eco-homes, first time buyers, flat-pack homes, Housebuilders, Housing market, property prices

A scheme to make homes more affordable by allowing first-time buyers to rent a property as they save up to buy it has been announced today by the government.

Under the pilot scheme, households earning up to £60,000 will be able to rent a new home at a discounted rate for a period of two or three years while building up a deposit to buy a share in it.

Rents will be 80% or less of the real market value.

The scheme, which will be managed by the Housing Corporation, will be open to buyers who qualify for the government's new-build HomeBuy scheme, but are currently unable to buy.

When the buyer can afford to, he or she can buy a share of the property of at least 25% and continue to pay rent to a housing association on the remaining share.

Ultimately, the buyer can purchase a 100% share in the property, or move and take the equity built up in their share.

Earlier this year the government extended the HomeBuy scheme, opening it up to all first-time buyer households earning up to £60,000.

The government said the Rent to Homebuy scheme was designed to give more choice and flexibility to first-time buyers who have been hardest hit by the credit crunch.

Since the start of the year, all of the 100% mortgages available to new buyers have been withdrawn and many lenders have started to ask for a deposit of at least 10%.

Despite price falls, the average price of a property in the UK is still more than £180,000, according to Halifax, meaning a first-time buyer would need to raise a deposit of around £18,000.

Article continues at Guardian Online

Labels: first time buyers, Halifax, homebuy scheme, House market, property prices