Bovis leader calls for lenders to raise awareness of NewBuy
THE CHIEF executive of Bovis Homes yesterday called for banks to take further action to promote the government’s NewBuy scheme as first-time home buyers remain left in the dark.
David Ritchie praised the scheme, which offers 95 per cent loan-to-value mortgages, but said reservations were still trickling in at three or four per week.
“What would make it more impactful is a bit more awareness… It is a mortgage product, not a housing product but [banks] are not marketing it,” he said.
Ritchie also said he was unconvinced by government plans to remove social housing requirements for property firms, arguing that the lack of mortgage availability would help undermine efforts to boost housebuilding.
His comments came as the group reported that profit before tax for the six months through June jumped to £16.2m from £8.1m in the same period in 2011 as it continued to shift its focus on more economically robust regions.
Revenue rose 27 per cent to £170.3m. The average sale price over the period rose to £164,400 from £163,400 and it expects its average sale price for 2012 to be six per cent higher than 2011.