New houses vital to recovery
A Potteries estate agency has suggested that an upturn in new house building could provide the catalyst for a more sustainable recovery in the housing market.
Heywoods Property, which serves the Newcastle-under-Lyme area, said that a shortage of available property was responsible for the current slow turnover in the housing market.
But the company believes that the time is right for house builders to cash in on the current demand for the limited properties available by stepping up their house building programmes.
That way, it added, a boost to the number of homes for sale would increase the choices available to both first-time buyers and home movers and free up a stagnant market by encouraging more homeowners to consider a move.
Heywoods made the comments following an announcement by Britain's largest housebuilder, Barratts, that it had cut its half-year losses from £680 million to £178 million on the back of increasing house prices and sales.
The company concluded that the building of new houses and an improvement in the availability of mortgage credit were together the two vital ingredients to a healthy and sustained market recovery.
And the signs look good, as the UK's second biggest mortgage lender, Santander, has just announced that it is to bring back the 90% mortgage for first-time buyers of new homes.