The NewBuy guarantee scheme has now been launched, offering the opportunity for first time buyers in England to get a foot on the housing ladder, with lenders and the government underwriting a mortgage for a new build house or flat worth up to £500,000.

As we all know, the problem for a lot of people over the last few years has been finding the money for a deposit as you are now expected to find around 20% of the price of the property. This initiative will enable people to buy a new build with a down payment of only 5%.

The idea under the NewBuy scheme will be that developers will pay the lender 3.5% of the property price  and the government will guarantee an additional 5.5%. The government estimates that this will help up to 100,000 buyers get their first home.

There has been a mixed reaction to this new scheme, with many believing it may still over stretch many first time buyers, and also that it is appealing more to home builders than to home buyers. We will wait to see what happens in the next few months…..

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Reports are encouraging for the buy-to-let market for 2012. Despite house prices still falling or at least not moving, rental demand is still high and so rent prices look as though they will remain high. 

In fact the average rent for England and Wales over the last year has risen by nearly 4% according to the LSL Buy to Let Index, and analysts think rental growth will continue next year. November saw the first fall in rental rates this year, by 0.4% meaning the average rent was £717.  But this was probably a seasonal reflection with landlords hoping to avoid having any properties vacant over the Christmas period. 

Obviously there are quite dramatic regional differences, with the cheapest rent being in the North East at £514 in November, whilst London rents averaged a staggering £1033. The South East and East of England averaged £741 and £744 respectively.

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