Quality house builder is on the up

One of the UK’s leading new house builders, with successful developments across Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, feels confident that the new homes marketplace is beginning to show positive signs.

Bloor Homes, probably the largest independent housebuilder in the UK, is seeing increased footfall through its sales centres and showhomes and steady sales. There is still very definitely a new homes marketplace, whatever you might hear, and people are responding to schemes that allow them to get their feet on the first rungs of the home ownership ladder, where they can see real value for money.

Bloor Homes Western, one of the eight Bloor Homes divisions, is based in Tewkesbury and builds new homes in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Oxfordshire. It has continued building on all its developments in recent months and is about to launch two new developments – one in Kington in Herefordshire and one in Dursley, in south Gloucestershire.

In addition to continuing to build and sell new homes, Bloor’s private ownership and the fact that it isn’t massively reliant on decisions made in the City, has seen it able to buy top quality land, to add new potential building land to its land bank ready to develop at a later date when the situation is right.

Bloor is still very much a family company. A member of the Bloor family - Adrian Bloor - is managing director of Bloor Homes Western, and the family also owns the resurgent Triumph motorcycle business here in the UK.

Sales Director for the Western Division is Mark Powell is very positive about the future: “People are still buying houses. It’s a fact. Whatever the economy does, some people still want to move home, and some have to move home. First time buyers have been struggling to get their feet on that first rung of the property ownership ladder, but we’re seeing evidence of the first time buyer market coming back and there’s still huge desire from young people to own their own homes, which has to be positive for the marketplace as a whole.

“Let’s face it, families continue to grow in difficult times, so some people still need to find a cost effective bigger home. Some people still want to ‘down size’ – when children leave home and the family home is too big, so the attraction of downsizing and being ‘mortgage free’ are still there.”

With the Government and the banks saying that lending should become easier, Mark Powell says this is a key area where Bloor can help: “We recognise that getting a mortgage can be more difficult now – especially if you’re arranging one yourself but we work closely with and can introduce you to a number of independent financial advisers - IFAs - we have had dealings with for many years, who will offer the best advice and help people to achieve the mortgage deal that is best for them.

“As a family company that takes a real interest in our customers, we see it as part of our role to help our customers through the whole house buying process – and that includes helping to make sure they have access to the best independent advice available.”

Bloor Homes has introduced its new low cost ownership plan – BloorHomesStart 2 - which gives customers the chance to own 100% of their new home for just 85% of the price - now. They pay 85% of the price before they move in, then pay the remaining 15% of the current value of the property when they decide to sell. Or they may choose to settle in full at any time within the next 10 years. And this has definitely been helpful to some of their customers.

With BloorHomesStart2 there are many benefits. It’s ideal for First Time Buyers. The property is 100% ‘yours’ from ‘day 1’ – it’s not a shared equity scheme and there’s no risk - you simply pay only 85% of the value of your property. There’s no rent to pay and no contract deposit required. With this scheme, it has even been shown that it can be cheaper to buy a brand new home rather than rent a property in the current circumstances, in some places.

This is particularly relevant option for parents sending sons and daughters to university or college to consider. Rather than paying rent for which there is no return, it could be less expensive to invest in a home that you only pay 85% of the price for and have an asset to sell in four or five years time that could have increased in value by the time it comes to selling the property, at the end of the course.

And of course there’s still the option of part-exchange that many people find helpful when they want to move home, especially if they want to move quickly. Bloor is keen to consider taking people’s existing home in part exchange for a new one – ask the sales adviser at your local development for the information you need. Part-exchange can be a quicker way to move as well as a cost-effective way to do so.

Terms apply of course and you can get these from the Bloor Homes web site at bloorhomes.com or by visiting one of the Bloor Homes developments in your area.

Bloor’s Mark Powell says: “We’re seeing good numbers of people visiting our developments. And the people we see, are, in the main serious potential buyers. So the numbers may be down on last year but the quality of visitors to our sites is significantly better.

“As a family company, with the ethos we have here, we’re keen to keep on providing high quality, affordable houses and apartments for people who want to buy their own homes. And because of the way we work, we’re happy to go that extra mile for our customers and, as we always have done, we’ll try to help them every step of the way if they decide to buy a new home with us. Come along to any of our existing developments or the two new ones at Dursley and Kington. We think you’ll be surprised at the options available to you, if you’re looking for a new home.”