Standen Homes Blog

It became apparent about three years ago that there was a malevolent financial beast rearing its ugly head, starting with the subprime mortgage fiasco across the pond. It went on to decimate world housing and job markets, indiscriminately destroy businesses both large and small and tear a chunk out of great swathes of industry.

Now, in August 2010, the world is beginning to take tentative steps back out into the light of positive equity once again. Britain, as the inexorable machine of our nation’s media informs us every day, is in a dire mess and will be for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, we've all watched in terrible fascination as the soft underbelly of the European economic bloc has been exposed and its vulnerability has become plain for all to see. It is little surprise, then, when the RIC (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) reports that:

“Property markets in the more dynamic economies of South America, Asia and Eastern Europe are outperforming those in the UK and Eurozone”

According to the RIC’s Global Property Survey

If you’ve been house hunting before, you’ll know the feeling. You arrange a series of viewings and you look through house after house, becoming ever more crestfallen and disappointed at the fact that none of them really feel quite right. Maybe you find one or two that are head and shoulders above the rest, one of which you eventually settle for, but still there’s something out of place, something you can’t put your finger on. If you are really lucky, you’ll view a new house where you experience that sense of place and belonging that lets you know you’ve found the right one. Or perhaps you’ve found that place more than once, only to have it snapped up before you have a chance to put an offer in.

With Standen Homes, thanks to one of our exclusive packages, you can forego the waiting, the heartache and the disappointment of the above scenarios and quickly find the new house or new home that suits you.

We don’t just build identical 'lego' new houses in

Mapperley, just three or four miles north of Nottingham City Centre, is currently enjoying a fantastic influx of new homes as the ever-increasing demand for new Nottingham developments continues. Able to offer an ideal range of benefits in terms of their geographical positioning and local services, the specific build sites of Regency Heights and Chartwell Grange are part of a model region for new builds and new developments whose community is sure to grow and strengthen in the years to come.

Overlooking the Trent Valley and offering wonderful views of the surrounding countryside it is not difficult to see the attraction. Able to trace its roots back as far as the thirteenth century and once an area of lush pasture for grazing cattle, the tiny hamlet soon expanded as the industrial revolution set in. Historically benefitting from the brick making trade, bricks originating in Mapperley’s kilns were sent to help build London’s St. Pancras Station.

But Mapperley never lost its inherent charm and as such it still maintains a peaceful ambience

There are eight regular, monthly reports into the property market in the UK. Each one of them has its own strengths, weaknesses and data sets.

Nationwide, Halifax, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), the Land Registry, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), Hometrack and Rightmove all produce monthly reports. Financial Times Academetrics then tries to build its own report based on those ones while websites such as Zoopla and mortgage sites produce reports now and again to add to the fun.

Journalists produce stories based on either one or several of these reports, they also call the people that provide the reports for specific data from time to time - adding even more confusion to the mix.

Homebuyers who want to move up on the property ladder are finding a part exchange to be a way to move up without having to worry about how they are going to sale their old home. Part exchange is a simple process that takes place when someone who wants to buy a house sells their house to the house builder that is selling them a house. The price that the builder pays the homebuyer for their old house is based upon an average of several quotes taken from local estate agents. The price given is then taken off the price of the new home purchase.

Homebuyers who do a part exchange are able to buy a home without having to worry about a bad turn in the market keeping them from buying selling their existing home. This allows homebuyers the luxury of being able to buy a home when it is good time for them to do so. A part exchange could possibly help a homebuyer to take advantage of a good deal on a new house that otherwise they may not have been able to purchase without doing a part exchange.

There are other

Average UK House prices will grow to be 5 per cent higher at the end of 2010 than at the beginning despite the sluggish start to the year. Average mortgage rates are likely to fall from a current APR of around 4% to about 3% by Q1 2011, say CEBR.

This is a key finding from the latest Consumer and Housing prospects report published by the centre for economics and business research (CEBR) – one of the country's economics consultancies and respected commentators on the UK housing market.

The forecasts are based on CEBR's updated UK economic forecasts released earlier this month. These forecasts show sluggish GDP growth from 2011-14 as the incoming government deals with its fiscal crisis and cuts public spending and puts up taxes.

Because of the sluggish growth, CEBR forecasts that base rates will average 0.5% over the next 18 months and will only rise slowly thereafter.

CEBR forecasts that average mortgage rates will fall by about 100 basis points by early 2011 as the money markets price in the effects of cuts in the government's budget deficit. CEBR considers these cuts likely whoever wins the election and these will have a

U.K. mortgage approvals rose for the first time in four months in March as the effects of the worst cold snap in three decades and higher taxes on property sales faded.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research said yesterday that house prices will extend their recovery this year as low borrowing costs and the shortage of homes support the property market. Today’s report comes as Prime Minister Gordon Brown battles to stay in office two days before the May 6 general election.

“Housing activity may be starting its slow upward grind,” said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec Securities in London. “It’s nothing spectacular, but it does confirm the economic recovery is gaining ground and some traction.”

The pound stayed lower against the dollar after the report and was down 0.3 percent at $1.5202 as of 12:19 p.m. in London.

‘Stabilize’

Brown’s government is trying to help potential homebuyers in the run-up to the election. It scrapped a tax on house purchases for first-time buyers spending less than 250,000 pounds in its budget in March. The prime minister said on April 21 that he expects house prices to “stabilize” on increasing demand from such

Mortgages should only be given to some first-time buyers "after study and an exam", according to the chairman of a debt charity.

Home loans should be sold with a health warning, not tax breaks, said Malcolm Hurlston of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service.

Those who had bought a home too soon were most likely to get into debt, he added.
Inspiration could come from pre-buying education in the US, he said.

'Trap'

In a speech to members of the credit industry, Mr Hurlston said that the credit crunch had changed the financial system.

But he added that some lessons had not been learned for first-time buyers - many of whom found that home ownership was a "trap".

"The people most likely to get into debt in Britain are those on low incomes who have wrongly or too soon embarked on home ownership," he said.

"Think Northern Rock. Was it not apparent to everybody here that 110/120% mortgages, some partially disguised as unsecured, were dangerous madness?"

He added that some form of tuition should be considered for those on low-incomes getting a mortgage for the first time.

"First time mortgages should be

The recent stamp duty break introduced by the government was supposed to get more budding first-time buyers into the market, but not everyone believes it is actually working.

The British Property Federation (BPF) says it believes the problems faced by first-time buyers cannot be solved by freezing stamp duty.

"'The affordability of properties isn't determined by how much they cost or how much you can shave off stamp duty, it's by how well you can get your hands on finance," says the BPF's spokesman Andrew Teacher.

"So if you can't get hold of a mortgage, if you can't raise the deposit you need to get that mortgage, then the property is still unaffordable whether stamp duty is 1% or 5%."
Two year freeze

Stamp duty is a tax which is calculated as a percentage of how much the property is bought for.

Before the change last month, a first-time buyer, like all others, would have paid 1% in stamp duty on a property worth up to £250,000.

But from now until 25 March 2012, they will not have to pay the tax on properties up to that value.
The move is meant to encourage

Confidence in the Nottingham property market may be on the rise, with one expert suggesting that consumers across the UK are increasingly optimistic.

Jon Brown, partner relationship manager at iammoving.com, suggested that real estate prospects are picking up.

His comments were made in the wake of the release of figures produced by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which revealed that gross lending in March totalled £11.5 billion.

This was up on the £9.3 billion recorded during the previous month, the organisation noted.
Mr Brown remarked: "Fortunately people's faith in borrowing is slowly being restored while at the same time many areas of the UK are reporting an increase in property values or at least a stabilisation of prices."

He went on to suggest that because the housing market is now seen to be out of the dip precipitated by the recession, more individuals are placing their homes on the market.
In addition, a rising number of consumers are considering buying new homes, he added.

There is some good news for home owners as there are signs that the property market is starting to show signs of recovery and that by the end of next year there will be a 1-2% increase in house prices according to the Royal Institute Of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

It has also been forecast that here would be a greater demand for properties, than those available, which may increase the cost of property further.

Further supporting the statement made by Rics, the Halifax and Nationwide have said that there have been house price rises in recent months.

If you are considering purchasing a new build property whilst they are still affordable in the Nottingham or Derby region, then why not view the Standen Homes portfolio? With gorgeous new housing developments in the Mapperley and Bestwood Village areas, and with Nottingham recently being voted one of the top 10 cities to visit in the world and the recent completion of the Nottingham Contemporary arts centre, there has never been a better time to

Hucknall has had some major improvements over the last few years. With the relatively new tram network connecting Nottingham city centre directly to Hucknall, a 24 hour Tesco being built and plenty of new build properties springing up, Hucknall seems to be undergoing a bit of a revival.

However, it seems that the development of Hucknall is likely to continue on. There is expected to be a £13m re-development of Hucknall town centre commencing in 2011. The proposed scheme includes a £10.5m grant from the government, which involves developing a relief road and the pedestrianisation of the high street.

Hucknall was known to be a centre for framework knitting and then for coal mining. Hucknall is also famous for being the site where Rolls Royce demonstrated the “Flying Bedstead” ,which was a vertical take-off and landing aircraft. The parish church of St Mary Magdalene, which is located at the end of the high street, is known to be the final resting place of Lord Byron and his daughter Ada Lovelace, a famous mathematician.

If you are looking to purchase a property, you may have to ask yourself the question “what would be better, a newly built property or an older house?”.

To some, the older style property has more character compared to a new build. The older building can be thought of as being sturdier with old world construction, which has possibly stood for decades, being constructed by genuine craftsmen. It is also believed that the older property may be more affordable compared to that of a new build.

However, there are certainly a lot of advantages to purchasing a new build. A lot of thought goes into the design of a newly built property by trained architects, who will take into account the surrounding area when designing new houses. Newly built properties can be very attractive and designed to look like a period property, with each house on a street being given its own unique identity.

There is certainly a higher level of maintenance that goes along with living in an older property. There is