PROPERTY NEWS
HOME BUYERS GO GREEN
It appears that Britons’ global conscience is alive and well. A new survey commissioned in advance of Energy Saving Week (25-31 Oct) says that over half of people are attracted to a new home because of its energy efficiency. Well, ok, maybe there is a little bit of self-interest there: the research from Galliford Try Homes adds that 62 per cent of those surveyed said a reduction in fuel bills is just as important as reducing carbon footprint. That’s more like it. www.gallifordtryhomes.co.uk
FREE HOME IN CROYDON
One lucky buyer tomorrow stands to win a one-bed apartment in Croydon. It won’t be easy, of course: they’ll have to win Taylor Wimpey’s Crack the Safe competition and figure out the combination for a special code. But the payoff could be an attractive one-bedroom Croydon apartment worth £134,995 at the 793 London Road development in Thornton Heath. First Time Buyer Home Show is tomorrow, at the Grand Connaught Rooms, Great Queen Street, 10-5pm.
STEAM AWAY FROM YOUR OLD SVR
Barclays’ new Great Escape mortgage provides borrowers afraid of the cost of switching homeloans with another option. It’s offering a tracker mortgage at 2.18 per cent above base rate (2.68 per cent), 70 per cent LTV, no application fee, free legal work and valuation and £300 cash back to recover their existing lender’s exit fee. Andy Gray, head of mortgages at Barclays, says: “While base rate remains at 0.50 per cent, anybody delaying the decision to ditch SVR is paying more than they need to.”
BUYERS’ MARKET FOR LAST QUARTER
Plenteous supply and slackening demand will make the final quarter of 2010 a prime time for buyers, according to new figures from Hamptons International. The move follows favourable conditions in the first half of the year for sellers as house prices in the South reached levels not seen since the peak of the property market boom in 2007. Sellers are now reassessing prices thanks to less competition for properties and an increase in housing supply, said Hamptons.