Why rent someone else's home when you can buy your own?

Renting is often considered the less expensive option when it comes to moving home, particularly for first time buyers who believe that, due to high deposits and limited mortgage options, they cannot afford to buy their own property. Recent research has dispelled this myth, however, revealing that buying is currently cheaper than renting*. Thanks to the government’s ‘FirstBuy’ scheme, buyers of one and two-bedroom ‘Hamptons’ apartments at Crest Nicholson’s Liberty Park development in Wainscott, Kent could save around £200 a month on mortgage repayments** compared to renting a similar property.

FirstBuy is a new scheme designed to help first-time-buyers onto the property ladder in a way that they can afford. The initiative means that purchasers will own 100% of their home for just 80% of the price as Crest Nicholson and the Homes and Communities Agency offer a loan of up to 20% of the full purchase price.*** The loan is equity free for the first five years, after which a fee of 1.75% is payable. Loans must be repaid when the home is sold.

Annette Cole, Sales & Marketing Director for Crest Nicholson, said: “FirstBuy is an ideal way for buyers to get onto that all-important first rung of the property ladder. With spiralling deposits required, we recognise that it is becoming ever more difficult for first time buyers to even consider owning their own home. As a result, the demand for rental properties grows and, consequently, rents increase. The amount potential first time buyers are able to save each month towards a deposit therefore decreases, and so it becomes a vicious circle that can often become near impossible to break. We are delighted, therefore, to be able to offer FirstBuy at Liberty Park and enable struggling buyers the opportunity to own their first home.”

In addition to the one and two-bedroom apartments, Liberty Park comprises stylish coach houses and two, three and four bedroom houses. Externally, properties blend traditional design elements, such as weatherboarding and hanging tiles, with features including dormer windows and varied roof elevations to create a development that suits the Kent vernacular. Homes are situated on pretty tree-lined boulevards, surrounded by landscaped open space.

Liberty Park is located on Hoo Road in Wainscott. The development is well located and offers very good commutability to London and the wider Kent area. Nearby Strood Mainline Station provides a fast train on the High Speed 1 line to St Pancras in just 32 minutes. The station also offers efficient services to London Bridge, London Waterloo East and London Charing Cross in just over an hour and good access to the M2 motorway and A2, which are just minutes away.

Prices for Hamptons apartments start from £122,500. Prices for the two, three and four-bedroom houses start from £147,500. For further information, visit crestnicholson.com.

*telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/mortgages/8728133/Buying-a-house-is-cheaper-than-renting-for-first-time-buyers.html

**Subject to lender criteria

*** Up to £280,000