Barratt reports positive sign for North East property market

The North East housing market is showing positive signs of improvement says Barratt Homes as it starts work on another new development in the region, its third in recent months.

The housebuilder is also launching three more sites in coming months, bringing its total of current developments in the region to 20, the most since 2006.

“There are definitely signs of life in the local housing market,” said Bernard Rooney, Managing Director at Barratt North East.

“Customer confidence has improved over the past six months and we have seen a marked increase in sales inquiries and visitor levels.

“There is undoubtedly demand here as people realise that now could be a very good time to buy. Prices and mortgage rates are significantly lower than they were two years ago and there is a wide range of assistance offered by developers.”

He added: “We have announced three new schemes in recent months and we’ll be starting soon on three more. In total these six developments will provide 360 new homes worth over £50 million.”

The latest site opening will be in Sunderland and follows other starts at Blyth and Hetton-le-Hole.

However, Mr Rooney warned that the scarcity of mortgage finance was still holding back sales.

“Despite gross mortgage lending rising by 26 per cent in July over the previous month, the total was still down by 36 per cent over July 2008 and was the lowest July lending figure since 2001,” he said.

“There’s a big difference between the numbers of visitors who are seriously interested in buying, and those who can actually buy. The main reason for this is the difficulty they currently have obtaining a mortgage.

“While we can provide our buyers with financial incentives to help them get a mortgage, we really need lending to return to more normal levels.

“The Government has done much to help with shared equity schemes like HomeBuy Direct and the Kickstart scheme to get stalled developments moving, but it will be some time until these initiatives filter through and make a real difference.”

Barratt has homes for sale across the North East, at prices from £105,000 to £330,000. For further information on current availability visit barratthomes.co.uk.