Partner Article

Housing market will remain strong in 2017

Although part of the government’s Help to Buy scheme is ending this December, Barratt Developments Yorkshire West, which includes the Barratt and David Wilson Homes brands, is reassuring househunters that the most popular part of the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme is definitely not ending. People can still buy a new home with just a 5% deposit, and this is set to continue until 2021.

With 7 new sites to launch throughout the region in 2017, providing 900 new homes, Barratt is advising that potential homebuyers can still buy a home with just a 5% deposit even after HTB2 finishes, by using the equity loan element of Help to Buy. This is the larger part of the HTB scheme with over 91,000 properties having been bought using it since it launched in 2013. The average purchase price of a home bought under the scheme is £226,887, with the vast majority (81%) being used by first time buyers to get on the property ladder.

Ian Ruthven, Managing Director at Barratt Yorkshire West, said: “There is much to be positive about in 2017. Although there remains some uncertainty around Brexit and Article 50, the mortgage market is very strong, with historically low interest rates and powerful government support for homebuyers in the form of Help to Buy.

The government has promised a Housing White Paper in January and we are hopeful it will set out policy to bring more land forward for new homes. This will help the government to hopefully hit its target of building 1 million more homes by 2020.

But as more homes are built it is vital that quality doesn’t slip too. Having increased our own output by 50% in the past five years, we will continue to work really hard to maintain our 5 star customer satisfaction rating. We look forward to what should be a successful year in 2017.“

The Help to Buy equity loan scheme allows a homebuyer to secure a brand new home up to the value of £600,000 with only a 5% deposit. The government lends the buyer 20% of the value of the property in the form of an interest free equity loan for five years. This then means buyers can access some of the great deals available for a 75% mortgage, making new homes much more affordable.

Help to Buy is also available to all new homebuyers, not just first time buyers, and can help anyone looking for a boost up the property ladder. David Wilson Homes is currently offering Help to Buy at various developments across the region.

Barratt and David Wilson Homes has a range of developments across the region. For more information please visit www.barrattdevelopments.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Savage .