Tuesday 21 June 2011

Self-building funding calls

The Government wants more people in the UK to build their own homes and housing minister Grant Shapps has called on lenders to provide more money to those looking to embark on self-build projects.
Funding can be tough to come by when building your own home, especially after highly-recommended expenses like self-build home insurance have been taken into consideration.
So Mr Shapps wants to make it easier for people in the UK access the level of funding required for self-building. He hopes this will change the culture in the UK, which has one of the smallest self-build rates in all of Europe, so self-building is no longer seen as a luxury only available to the country's wealthiest people.
Mr Shapps said a "self-build revolution" could be a way for mortgage providers to diversify their lending.
Martin Bell, head of customer lender lending at Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, added: "While many may think a self-build project is beyond them, it is likely to be much cheaper than buying an existing property and the satisfaction of living in a home that you have seen built from scratch is difficult to match."
Last month the Government launched an initiative to help reduce the barriers faced by prospective builders such as regulation, lack of access to land and development finance, but it says lenders also often shy away due to the perceived higher exposure to risk.
Mr Shapps said that in reality the majority of projects are not "DIY builds", but involve professional builders, architects and project managers.
Interest in self-build homes has picked up since the start of the year, with the first quarter seeing a 30% increase in mortgage offers, according to BuildStore, a company that sources building plots and loans for self-builds.
BuildStore chief executive Raymond Connor said the self-build market can offer high quality lending in a market currently worth £2 billion annually.
"As well as enabling more people to build the homes they want and need, funding the self-build sector also helps to boost local economies and supports the construction supply chain," he said.
Source http://www.lv.com/
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