Summit missing from this one?
I wasn’t sure whether to cheer or boo Grant Shapps after the “emergency First Time Buyer summit” in London last week (15 February). On the one hand it brought some key points to the fore of the news agenda – on the other the most important group of all (the lenders) didn’t even get an invite.
Yes – their representatives were there (the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association) but the actual decision makers were not.
At the end of the summit the country’s Housing Minister called on key industry players to work closely together to improve communication buyers to tackle the first time buyer crisis.
I can’t help but wonder if this is a bit like asking Ryanair to sell cheap flights to Benidorm. They know a good business opportunity when they see one and have therefore been doing just that very successfully for quite some time now.
As an industry we are not stupid. We know that if we are to flourish financially we need to sell to first time buyers. As a result we have all ploughed vast amounts of time and money into doing everything we can to give first time buyers a helping hand onto the first rung of the property ladder.
Take us for example. We have long been offering our own shared equity package MiWay which has helped scores of first time buyers to buy their own home when they had completely given up hope.
Then Homebuy Direct came along and we poured everything we had into securing funding and then promoting this incredible offer which has been a lifeline for hundreds of people already. In fact we even ran TV adverts for the first time in our 75 year history to raise awareness of shared equity and it worked very well at a dire time for the housing market.
We also surveyed first time buyers to find out what they knew about shared equity (very little as it happens) and developed more incentives to get them moving like deposit match where we will match whatever funds a first time buyer has up to a maximum of £5000.
The real problem is very simple. Lenders don’t much want to lend money to first time buyers. The deposit requirements are so high that most people would have to live off fresh air and pond water for three years (at least) to get the £31500 they need to buy.
I can’t change that. My competitor down the road can’t change that. Not even Mr Shapps can change that. Only a few people can and they were not there. Yes – they were “represented” but I have a niggling feeling that “summit” was amiss with this one. I hope I am wrong but only time will tell.
Sue Warwick National Sales & Marketing Director - Miller Homes
Yes – their representatives were there (the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association) but the actual decision makers were not.
At the end of the summit the country’s Housing Minister called on key industry players to work closely together to improve communication buyers to tackle the first time buyer crisis.
I can’t help but wonder if this is a bit like asking Ryanair to sell cheap flights to Benidorm. They know a good business opportunity when they see one and have therefore been doing just that very successfully for quite some time now.
As an industry we are not stupid. We know that if we are to flourish financially we need to sell to first time buyers. As a result we have all ploughed vast amounts of time and money into doing everything we can to give first time buyers a helping hand onto the first rung of the property ladder.
Take us for example. We have long been offering our own shared equity package MiWay which has helped scores of first time buyers to buy their own home when they had completely given up hope.
Then Homebuy Direct came along and we poured everything we had into securing funding and then promoting this incredible offer which has been a lifeline for hundreds of people already. In fact we even ran TV adverts for the first time in our 75 year history to raise awareness of shared equity and it worked very well at a dire time for the housing market.
We also surveyed first time buyers to find out what they knew about shared equity (very little as it happens) and developed more incentives to get them moving like deposit match where we will match whatever funds a first time buyer has up to a maximum of £5000.
The real problem is very simple. Lenders don’t much want to lend money to first time buyers. The deposit requirements are so high that most people would have to live off fresh air and pond water for three years (at least) to get the £31500 they need to buy.
I can’t change that. My competitor down the road can’t change that. Not even Mr Shapps can change that. Only a few people can and they were not there. Yes – they were “represented” but I have a niggling feeling that “summit” was amiss with this one. I hope I am wrong but only time will tell.
Sue Warwick National Sales & Marketing Director - Miller Homes
Published:
21 February 2011
at
09:02