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Say hello to Barratt Homes' 'Brixton Square' on Coldharbour Lane (old Cooltan site)

leanderman said:
the 2-beds cost £339k and, with stamp duty, £350k+

a 100pc interest-only mortgage at 5pc to cover that would be about £1,458pm

it's £1,560pm to rent

so it seems a crap deal for the renter and the buy-to-letter!

(of course, most landlords will put up large cash deposits and so pay much less than £1,458)
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And 100% and interest only mortgages have gone the way of the dodo (not a bad thing as they drove the btl profiteering)
 
sleaterkinney said:
I hoped the recession had seen off all that btl rubbish.
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Not at all! With interest rates so low, property is probably the best place to put your money right now.

We've been trying to buy for quite a while, it's fucking bonkers out there at the moment!
 
Manter said:
And 100% and interest only mortgages have gone the way of the dodo (not a bad thing as they drove the btl profiteering)
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There are Buy to Let mortgages available. My friend got one. Instead of selling her old flat she re mortgaged it with a Buy to Let mortgage and is renting it out. She sees it as a safer investment than selling it and putting the money into a pension scheme. Pension schemes have become discredited now. I think this is common. People do not trust financial institutions. For good reason.
 
Gramsci said:
There are Buy to Let mortgages available. My friend got one. Instead of selling her old flat she re mortgaged it with a Buy to Let mortgage and is renting it out. She sees it as a safer investment than selling it and putting the money into a pension scheme. Pension schemes have become discredited now. I think this is common. People do not trust financial institutions. For good reason.
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Ain't this the truth!

Those who have saved, invested or paid into pensions have, at best, broken even.

The buy-to-letters have trebled up.

And with historically low interest rates they are pocketing much higher incomes too.
 
Gramsci said:
Though I do not think Barratts are saying its not the private sales that are affected. My reading is that they do not think its possible to get a traditional RSL interested in acquiring 13 flats for social rent in the present economic climate.

What I am not clear on is whether Barratts would be obliged to sell the 13 flats to an RSL at a lower price than market price? I do not know how the system works on these Section 106 agreements.

As Brixton Hatter said the original Section 106 would be useful to see.

A lot of there argument is that the environment and funding for "affordable" housing providers has changed radically in since the original Section 106. So from Barratts point of view they are reasonably working with officers to find a solution that works. Otherwise the flats would be left empty.
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My understanding of how the S106 works (and I'll admit that whilst I know a bit about this I'm no expert so this might not be spot-on) is that the housing developer sells the affordable housing to an RSL at a price they negotiate between them. This price will reflect the rents that the RSL can charge on the properties. In some cases there may be bidding between different RSLs who are interested in the homes, in other cases the developer will enter into a partnership with one RSL early on.

Whilst it's true that times have got harder for RSLs so that raising the money to buy the property may be more difficult and costly, ultimately the rents they can charge will affect the price they are willing to pay.

So it is in the developers interest to agree higher rents (these have to be agreed with the council in advance as part of the S106) as ultimately that means they can ask a higher price from the RSL to buy the homes.
 
lYCFj.jpg
 
Crispy said:
That's crazy. You can get a 3 bed house for half that, less than a mile away.
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Yup. We've just bought a 2 bed for £385k, ludicrous prices but she was insistent on area due to commute and need to get to her parents quickly (Battersea)
 
Crispy said:
That's crazy. You can get a 3 bed house for half that, less than a mile away.
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Where's that then? Victorian 3 bed terrace round the corner from us (bottom of Brixton Hill) just sold for almost £600K. We sold ours for £350K in 2006 and thought that was mad.
 
I made no claims on quality. :D
Another 30-40k and you get something much nicer. More than half the crazy price upthread, but still shedloads cheaper, plus you get a garden.
 
Crispy said:
I made no claims on quality. :D
Another 30-40k and you get something much nicer. More than half the crazy price upthread, but still shedloads cheaper, plus you get a garden.
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I don't know that it necessarily affects quality... I know I bang on about it, but IME those kinds of flats/houses are much more solidly built than these new Barratt Homes type places. They may not look as pretty but many of those don't look so pretty after a while either. You pay a HUGE premium to get a period property but that comes with its own set of problems.
 
gaijingirl said:
I don't know that it necessarily affects quality... I know I bang on about it, but IME those kinds of flats/houses are much more solidly built than these new Barratt Homes type places. They may not look as pretty but many of those don't look so pretty after a while either. You pay a HUGE premium to get a period property but that comes with its own set of problems.
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I'm generally of the same opinion; old houses are a complete money pit.
But that particular block really is ugly. And the floor plan looks pretty cramped too.
 
Government’s NewBuy scheme has a target of 100,000 new homes.

Under the scheme, announced in the Government’s housing strategy last November and launched in March, lenders offer 95 per cent LTV mortgages for new-build properties against a mortgage indemnity guarantee funded jointly by house builders and the Government.
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Figures last week showed that the NewBuy scheme has led to 1,500 reservations and just 250 completions since March.
 
Badgers said:
Government’s NewBuy scheme has a target of 100,000 new homes.



Figures last week showed that the NewBuy scheme has led to 1,500 reservations and just 250 completions since March.
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They were pushing this scheme last night. It all sounds good in practice, but a 5% deposit on one of these flats is still the best part of £15,000. And this scheme will only let you buy overpriced new-build houses from developers like Barratt.
 
Brixton Hatter said:
They were pushing this scheme last night. It all sounds good in practice, but a 5% deposit on one of these flats is still the best part of £15,000. And this scheme will only let you buy overpriced new-build houses from developers like Barratt.
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Hmm. Of course.
 
Badgers said:
Government’s NewBuy scheme has a target of 100,000 new homes.

Figures last week showed that the NewBuy scheme has led to 1,500 reservations and just 250 completions since March.
Click to expand...

​

"The scheme is designed to protect lenders against losses in the unfortunate event of repossession"

Does this qualify as affordable housing in a large scheme like this?

Seems to me that this is about protecting developers and banks (again). Not about making housing more affordable.
 
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