Move to a new build home in Peterborough and save a small fortune

Living in London, struggling for space and looking to upsize? Or trying to get your first 'foot on the property ladder' and finding London prices mean a decent home is beyond your financial reach?

Why not consider a newly built home outside the capital?

There is life outside London, you know!

Younger people and workers in essential occupations such as nursing and policing - as well as those in jobs ranging from window cleaning to taxi driving - can often find London house prices prohibitive when it comes to upsizing. This is particularly true in the case of first time buyers and young families.

If you are looking to upsize but cannot afford London prices, look no further than Larkfleet Homes developments in and around places such as Peterborough and Grantham.

The price of new build homes is lower in this part of the world than in London. Where you have a house to sell you, you may well be able to pocket the difference between the price you achieve on your London property and your new build home further north.

Depending on where you currently own a property in London, moving to a new build home in the East of England or East Midlands could save you tens of thousands of pounds. Just think what you could do with that cash!

And leaving London doesn't mean leaving your job in the city. It’s quicker and easier to travel into central London from Peterborough than it is from many of London’s outer suburbs. Both Peterborough and Grantham are on the East Coast main line with many daily services running into Kings Cross. Nearby Corby - where we are also building new homes - has frequent services to St Pancras.

More and more people are moving out of London to find more spacious housing. In the year to June over 90,000 people took the plunge and moved out of the capital according to figures published recently by Savills.

Be one of the savvy movers and upsize to a new build home in one of our developments.

It’s coffee time!

Today is the day that all of us here will be taking part in the World’s biggest coffee morning in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Forget the Great British Bake Off! Staff at Larkfleet House, including Larkfleet Homes’ joint managing director Helen Hick, will be baking or bringing in a range of cakes and snacks that will be sold to colleagues in the building’s main meeting room to raise money.

We hope that all our visitors to Larkfleet House will join in the fun, buy a cake or two and enjoy a cup of coffee in aid of a great cause. And it's not too late for you to do the same - go on, forget the diet for a day and invite the neighbours around for a cuppa if you're at home or bring a box of cakes back to the office at lunchtime.

We are also inviting visitors to Larkfleet Homes and Allison Homes show homes to buy coffee and cakes throughout the day.

Other parts of the Larkfleet Group are also running events and competitions.

The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is Macmillan’s biggest fundraising event for people facing cancer. Since 1990, Coffee Morning has raised over £165.5 million for Macmillan. People all over the UK host their own Coffee Mornings and donations on the day are made to Macmillan. Last year alone saw a total of £29.5 million raised in aid of the charity.

This year Macmillan is aiming to raise even more and the Larkfleet team is aiming to help. Please bring your cash along if you are visiting Larkfleet House or one of our show houses and help us to help Macmillan!

Helping Bourne Rotary’s golf day go with a swing

We are delighted to be sponsoring the Rotary Club of Bourne’s charity golf day.

The event is taking place at Toft Golf Club, Bourne, tomorrow.

Proceeds will go towards a number of local good causes, including LIVES First Responders which provides a voluntary life-saving service in and around Bourne.

The golf day format is a four ball Betterball Stableford (full handicap) for gents, ladies or mixed pairs, with prizes for first, second and third places. There will also be prizes for nearest the pin and longest drive on selected holes.

There’s still time to enter. Email Barry Streets on bstreets@freeuk.com. Entry costs £30 per person which includes coffee on arrival, halfway house and a two course buffet after play.

Celebrating the best in Fenland enterprise

We love a good awards celebration at Larkfleet. So, the Larkfleet Homes team was delighted to have sponsored an award and then be on hand at the recent Fenland Enterprise Business Awards 2017 gala night to help the evening go with a swing.

The glittering showcase event was held at the Braza Club in March and compered by BBC East journalist Jozef Hall.

Our own Helen Jones (centre in our picture) was on hand to present the Larkfleet-sponsored Commercial Business in the Community/Social Responsibility Award to Co-operative Travel at Central England Co-operative.

Natasha Thatcher, branch manager of Co-operative Travel, told the Cambridge Evening News: “Being part of the community is essential as a business. We are pleased that local people can recognise us as a face within our community.”

The judges said that the Co-operative showed a deep understanding of getting involved in the local community, something that is very important to us at Larkfleet.

Co-operative Travel won the award for projects that it has created to help deprived children in the community and for recycling and redistributing its magazines and stands to help local school projects and the environment.

Well done to Kesteven Champion Tony

It’s not every day you get to meet a true community champion - with a certificate to prove it!

John Squire, a consultant with Larkfleet Homes’ sister company Allison Homes, recently had the pleasure of meeting Tony Farrow (on the left in our photo) who was named as Kesteven Champion in the Heart of Lincolnshire Community Awards.

Tony has spent the past 10 years dedicating himself to the Sleaford and District Voluntary Car Service. He set up the lifeline service with the help of his wife. Tony and his drivers have taken over 6,200 people to their hospital appointments in Lincolnshire, appointments that they would have missed without the service.

The Kesteven Champion award was sponsored by Allison Homes and John Squire was on hand to present it to Tony Farrow. John said it was a pleasure to meet Tony and to give him his award.

Keep up the good work Tony.

Autumn boom time for new homebuyers

Autumn is usually boom time for house prices. Homebuyers have put the summer holidays behind them. Christmas is far enough off that most people are not (yet) worrying about paying for the festive season. Demand for new homes is at its highest and price activity normally gets a boost.

Well, that's what normally happens. But 2017, it seems, is not going to be normal.

This year, the usual Autumn price bounce has so far failed to materialise. In fact, there has been a fall of -1.2 per cent (-£3,660) in the price of property coming to market - the first since 2013.

Rightmove director and housing market analyst Miles Shipside said: “As we enter the Autumn selling season it is usual to see estate agents advising new-to-the-market sellers to push up their asking prices.

“But this year all four southern regions have seen new sellers on average asking less than those of a month ago, reducing the national rate of increase. There were Autumn price bounces nationally in 2014, 2015 and 2016, but the south of the country has turned this month into a bit of a damp squib, whilst some northern regions are still showing marginal signs of upwards price pressure.

“Estate agents are clearly advising many sellers that they have to lower their price expectations to fit in with buyers' stretched financial resources, with that price compromise hopefully generating extra buyer interest.”

Annual average wage growth is now outstripping the annual rate of price increase in newly-marketed property. Average wage rises are now running at nearly double the annual rate of property price rises, and the longer any meaningful differential is maintained then the greater the improvement in affordability. Having finally turned the tables to potentially improve their buying power, buyers will now be hoping that it is not eroded again by an interest rate rise or rampant consumer price inflation.

Affordability is still a major factor in the slowing pace of price rises but demand for the right housing at the right price remains strong. The numbers of sales being agreed by estate agents are 4.8 per cent higher than the same period a year ago.

The housing needs of growing families are harder to postpone than other more discretionary moves. This has resulted in average asking prices for typical second-stepper type homes increasing at over twice the overall national average rate.

With competition among lenders to lend, increasing wages and the lowest level of unemployment since 1975, buyers are still keen to buy if the property is worth the money and well-presented.
If more sellers appreciate that sensible pricing is the best way forward, then this will help to maintain good levels of buyer activity despite the uncertain political outlook.

There is a wide choice of well-priced homes in Larkfleet Homes developments in locations around the country. If you’re looking for a new home it’s time to take advantage of the upturn in affordability. Call Larkfleet Homes today. We’re here to help you make your next move up the property ladder.

The prettiest town in Britain

We are lucky enough to live in a region that has some of the most attractive towns and villages in the UK. At its heart is Stamford, recently described by the Daily Telegraph as the prettiest town in Britain.

Is it any wonder that the town is a popular place to live?

Two recent Allison Homes developments at The Paddocks on Uffington Road and Anvil Mews, close to the town centre, were both snapped up!

So, what is it that makes Stamford so popular? It was recently voted one of the best places to live in the UK by The Sunday Times. It boasts many 17th and 18th century stone buildings, even older timber-framed buildings and five medieval parish churches. The town hosts an annual Georgian festival and international horse trials come to Burghley every September.

The town draws people from a wide area for the pleasure of shopping, often in traffic-free streets and lovely stores in old and quirky buildings. There is a wealth of independent shops, tea rooms and restaurants to enjoy. There is also a market every Friday.

Originally a walled town, Stamford still retains sections of the old wall and many original medieval buildings have been preserved. Its distinctive character was retained when the then Marquess of Exeter, whose family seat is nearby Elizabethan gem Burghley House, successfully opposed the coming of the mainline railway in the mid-19th century.

The rail hub was moved to Peterborough, 20 miles to the east, which grew rapidly, losing its market town identity in the process. Stamford escaped the rampant development of the past 50 years and it was named the UK’s first conservation area while Peterborough became a New Town for London’s urban overspill.

Stamford is a beautiful place to live and visit. Historic buildings abound, with the medieval St Leonard’s Priory and Burghley house just a short walk from the centre of town. A prosperous coaching town in the 18th and 19th centuries mid-way between London and York, Stamford gave rise to some fine hostelries including The George Hotel and the Bull and Swan Inn. It was said that at one time Stamford had more public houses and more churches per head of population than anywhere else in the country.

Both Larkfleet Homes and Allison Homes have developments within easy reach of Stamford, including Buttercross Park in Oakham, Bourne Heights in Bourne and Pinchbeck Fields, near Spalding.