Aspiring homeowners need a better balance of properties

02-Nov-2005

Linden Homes believes that an increase in the number of flats being built is ignoring first time buyer demand for two-storey and detached properties.

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Current government planning policies favour the construction of apartments, says the firm, distorting the traditional balance between flats and houses and preventing aspiring homeowners from finding their ideal property.

Figures show that flats account for over 40 per cent of private new housing registrations, while Linden Homes said that it had been forced to increase the number of apartment units it builds to 70 per cent.

"There is a considerable gap between what homebuyers want to buy and properties that planners are allowing to be built," Philip Davies, chief executive of Linden Homes.

"Generally people only want to live in apartments for a short while before moving into houses in the suburbs and beyond in search of somewhere suitable to raise a family."

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The firm has called for a better balance in building policies and said that meeting consumer need will help to get more people on the first rung of the property ladder.

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