Just 4% of affordable house purchases are new build

Posted on Monday, December 12, 2016

Just 4% of house purchases below £125,000 were new build in 2016 – signalling the challenge the government faces as it looks to kickstart the sector.

The data from conveyancer My Home Move found that most affordable house purchases are in the form of flats and terraced properties in Northern counties in the likes of Durham, South Yorkshire and Merseyside.

Doug Crawford, chief executive of My Home Move, said: “In the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement the government renewed its pledge to build more homes across the UK, with a particular emphasis on 40,000 additional ‘affordable’ homes.

 “Through our own research we know that two in three people believe affordable housing should cost less than £120,000.

“This begs the question – is the government really capable of delivering on its promise, as only 4% of ‘affordable’ homes purchased this year were classified as new builds?”

The greatest proportion of affordable new homes have been built across Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

However in the likes of Berkshire, Herefordshire, Surrey and London just 57 new builds have been sold for less than £125,000 so far this year.

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