Developers Want First Time Buyers

Additionally, private developers offer incentives to encourage open market first time buyers to purchase from them rather than the competition. The list of incentives regularly include a choice of: 5% deposit paid; cash back; £99 down and move in; stamp duty and legal fees paid, a furniture and/or white goods package.

Karen Keeman, editor of UK new build magazine Your New Home, attributes the plethora of offers housebuilders make to prospective buyers to the fierce competition that exists in the industry. "Unquestionably, in difficult sales times, such as we are experiencing currently, housebuilders' offers tend to be bigger, better and there's more of them," she says. "Developers are aware that first time buyers can be encouraged to buy through the use of price-and value-led incentives."

David Bexon, Managing Director of Smartnewhomes, a website for buyers looking for new-build homes, says a slowing property market makes now the ideal time for first time buyers to bag a deal. "The majority of developers will be acting quickly to sell units," he says. "We're seeing special offers on the market which will be particularly attractive for first time buyers who are ready to move and can complete immediately."

David adds, "With restricted lending and rising costs, new homes are now providing one of the only ways for first time buyers to get onto the property ladder, as developers offer genuine financial incentives."

"There’s a lot of scaremongering going around about the credit crunch but I think what a lot of people are failing to realise is that at the right development and with the right price, now is actually a great time to buy. Countryside Properties appreciates the apprehension a lot of budding buyers are experiencing right now and they were genuinely prepared to go that extra mile to make my purchase affordable."

First Time Buyer, Sarah Broomhill at Sadlers Park, Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent