Brent council and its partners are holding an exhibition on Friday 14^th March 2008, commencing at 1pm-7pm.

The venue is: - Advait Centre, Forty Avenue, Wembley, London, HA9 9PE.

Are you a first-time buyer, or on a low or moderate income?

This exhibition is open to anyone looking to buy a home of their own.

-         Learn about affordable new homes in Brent and other areas.

-         Get information on the New build Homebuy, Open Market Homebuy and other Homebuy schemes.

-         Find out how to apply with the Homebuy agent.

-         Enquire about properties with housing associations and make appointments to view properties.

-         Talk with independent financial advisors to understand the costs involve.

Local authority searches are a crucial component of Home Information Packs (HIPs), which have become mandatory for all residential property  put up for sale from December 2007. Since their introduction, concern is now being expressed within the organisations whom responsibility it is, to retrieve searches from local authorities. Prior to its launch, the National Association of Estate Agents and others spoke out highlighting the practical issues that would result...................

An exclusive house in London is being put up for sale, after falling into the hands of administrators to Global Trader Europe (GTE). Smith & Williamson, administrator to GTE is understood to be involved in taking control of the subsidiary that owns this property. The administrators have declined to comment thus far...............

Britain’s largest homebuilder by volume and second ranked by market value, made a pre-tax loss of £19.5m last year. This was down from a profit of £405.6m the previous year. Excluding exceptional costs such as the US write-down, TaylorWimpey saw its pre-tax profit fall to £535.6m, compared with £776.5m last year. The London based company formed by the merger of Taylor Woodrow PLC and George Wimpey PLC in July 2006, said profits fell by 31 per cent as property markets in the UK, USA and Spain cooled.

Persimmon UK’s largest homebuilder increased pre-tax profits by one per cent to £585m, on a turnover of £3.02bn. Operating margin increased to 21.8 per cent as a result of cost reductions and £50 million in synergy savings following the integration of Westbury.

Barratt, Britain’s third largest house builder struck an upbeat tone to the property market. Pre-tax profit increased 10.2 per cent to £194.6m for the last six months of 2007. During the year the group completed more than 17,000 homes and 145,000 sq ft of commercial property. Completions were 14.8 per cent less than in 2006. The average selling price was £178,000, an increase of 7.9 per cent, when compared to £165,000 last year.

“We remain committed to providing affordable homes and have maintained our strong presence in the social housing sector, and will continue to support fist time buyers with our own shared equity product.”
Editor: Simon Weston myfirsthomeltd.co.uk
Email: simon.weston@myfirsthomeltd.com

Redrow’s interim results for the half year to December 2007 reveal declining market conditions. Pre-tax profits fell 34 per cent to £35.8 million on a turnover of £353 million. The profit is down 9 per cent on the previous year.

Editor: Simon Weston myfirsthomeltd.co.uk
Email: simon.weston@myfirsthomeltd.com