UK homes experts have the following advice

Before you buy a new home it pays to go for a walk in the area, rather than just turning up in a car for a viewing and then driving away afterwards.

Find out what facilities and services there are within a 10-minute walk from the property, such as shops, supermarkets, schools, restaurants and public transport. New homes near to successful schools, particularly, will always be sought after, and therefore will command a higher price. Look too for areas where transport links are being improved.

Read local newspapers to get information about specific areas. This will help you identify areas undergoing regeneration and find out where new jobs are being created – both factors likely to push up house prices.

Consider what people are looking for when buying new homes. It may be a cliché, but if there is a trendy coffee shop or bar opening in the neighbourhood it has been identified as a growth area. The same applies to supermarkets, so visit their websites to see where they are opening new stores.

Proximity to property hotspots can also be an advantage as it may have a knock-on effect on house prices in other areas.

Other signs of a district on the up are skips in front gardens and on roadsides – indications that householders are carrying out home improvements such as loft conversions and new kitchens.
You could also check with the local council if it plans to impose parking restrictions. Residents-only parking is very desirable and can attract buyers to an area.

Buying a new home - How to get started

There are thousands of new homes for sale. Your new house is out there somewhere. But how do you go about buying a new property if you have never done it before?


New properties are springing up all the time but not all new houses will meet your requirements.

Here a a few tips on buying a new home.

Decide on your budget. Then ask yourself where you want to live. Do you want to live in a town or a village? How big a house do you want? A property development in a rural location may be beyond your means, unless the property developers are building starter homes. Many UK homes and properties are built on brownfield sites in towns. UK property developers will often offer good deals on new homes in towns and cities.

For more tips on buying a new home click here >>>

Homebuying is hotter than July

Summer homebuyers continue to set new borrowing records, taking out £30.4bn worth of mortgages in July – almost a fifth more than a year earlier.

Mortgages taken out in July slipped 6% below June's record figure of £32.4bn, according to figures released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), but still managed to set a new record for the month.

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Homebuying is hotter than July

Summer homebuyers continue to set new borrowing records, taking out £30.4bn worth of mortgages in July – almost a fifth more than a year earlier.

Mortgages taken out in July slipped 6% below June's record figure of £32.4bn, according to figures released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), but still managed to set a new record for the month.

More from this story >>>

Property of the week

I havn't posted a property of the week for a long time, but here is my choice for today.

A three bedroom semi-detatched house in Birchington, Kent, £225,000

Located within easy walking distance of Beresford Gap the property comprises to the ground floor kitchen/diner, lounge, conservatory, playroom/family room, study, utility room and cloakroom. Three bedrooms and bathroom to the first floor complete the accommodation which is tastefully presented. Birchington has much to offer, from local amenities in the village centre, to glorious sandy beaches and cliff top walks. A mainline rail link to London and direct access to the Thanet Way together with a good selection of local Junior & Senior schools make this property a must.

Click here for more properties like this >>>

£30,000 income for first home

First-Timers have made a substantial return to the property market with more novice buyers taking out a homeloan than at any time since December 2002.

But single new homeowners are being priced out of the market due to the need to earn more than £50,000 in London and almost £30,000 elsewhere.

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The C Channel Network

The C Channel is building a multi-interest website that brings together 3 distinct sites - Travel, Shopping and Weddings. Each one features articles, destination profiles, vendor profiles and a whole load of new tools to attract a global audience. This includes the still young Travel Forum, and the Wedding Agenda, a promising tool that will be completely free and is due out in late 2006.

The C Channel network has also recently introduced The C Directories, 5 user-friendly directories of websites, blogs, online retailers and other sites categorized under thousands of differnet subjects. Only a month old, it attracts new registrations every day of eBusinesses eager to become part of The C Channel Network.

For example, in the Real Estate Category, Construction World and the Real Estate Search by City Resource Directory are 2 of the best sources for home-searchers. And if you are a new home-buyer, then our Finance category will help you find the best sources to help you with your money-matters, like TSP Talk, Ledger Services, Stocks and Mutual Funds or ChexSystems & Bad Credit Solutions. Check them out.

Lenders move to up mortgage rates

Halifax, the UK's biggest mortgage lender, has become the latest bank to increase its mortgage rate.

The bank's standard variable rate will rise from 6.5% to 6.75%, equivalent to a £15 a month increase on a £100,000 repayment mortgage.

Earlier, Northern Rock increased its mortgage rate by 0.25%. Other banks are expected to follow suit soon.

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Second homes for students boost housing market

House sales have been boosted by parents buying properties for their children while they were at university, new research shows today. Around 83,000 homes were bought on behalf of students last year, a 26% increase since 2000, according to the study by finance firm Direct Line.

The number of houses occupied by students was predicted to reach 100,000 by the year 2010. The so-called university effect helped increase the number of 'second properties' to 2.6 million, up from 2.3 million five years ago. Around 1.6 million of the second properties were buy-to-let, while others included holiday homes and work bases.

Andrew Lowe, head of home insurance at Direct Line said: 'The continued boom in house prices, the rise in parents buying properties for their children and the growth in tele-working are among the key drivers of the UK's buoyant second properties market.'

North leads the way as property prices keep on soaring

Property prices rose at their strongest rate since the beginning of 2005 in the latest quarter, increased by 7.7% from a year ago, while the number of sales was up by almost a quarter, the Land Registry reports today.

The renewed strength in house prices this year is thought by economists to be a significant reason behind the Bank of England's interest rate rise last week which took the base rate up to 4.75%.

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London 'Fuelling house price boom'

London is continuing to drive up average house prices in England and Wales despite evidence of a slow down elsewhere in the country, figures showed today. Property website Hometrack said prices rose during July by 0.6% for the fourth successive month, raising the average price of a house in England and Wales to £166,500. But the group pointed out the increase had been powered by prices in London, while the cost of property remained largely unchanged in 70% of the country. The capital's market continues to rocket with the average house price up 1% inJuly to £280,000. Elsewhere there was 0% growth in the East Midlands with property averaging £122,500 and a 0.1% rise in Yorkshire and Humberside sending prices to £125,100.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: 'While the strength of the market in London continues to flatter headline results, there is clear evidence levels of house price growth and market activity are starting to slow. 'Mr Donnell said the dominant London performance was driven by demand continuing to outstrip supply with homes taking just 3.8 weeks to sell compared to 8.2 weeks in the North West. Londoners were also managing to get 96% of their asking price, whereas in Wales sellers were having to cut their losses to get 93%.

The divide between London and the rest of the country was pulled into focus by a study of postcode areas, which revealed price rises in just 31% of England and Wales last month, compared with 42% in June. Mr Donnell said: 'The survey shows there is strong market activity - such as in London - but in reality across two thirds of the country house prices remain unchanged.

First time buyers need big deposits.

Despite sky-high house prices, first time buyers still manage to become homebuyers - and new figures from personal finance website Moneyextra.com show the sacrifices they have to make.

In June, says the website, housing demand fell because of World Cup soccer -but first time buyers who did go ahead borrowed an average £137,626 to buy ahome costing £169,600.

That required an average first income of £36,500, while 39% of households also had a second income - averaging £23,000.

Those figures mean first time buyers had an average deposit of £32,000- plus extra cash to pay for legal bills, stamp duty and extras. How did they do it, without help from Mum and Dad?

The average remortgage is interesting too: Moneyextra says applicants typically live in a £234,000 home, and have have upped their mortgage to £117,000.