Homes in Newcastle that sold for £1 six years ago are now selling for £100,000.

Homes in the North Benwell area of the city were bought by Newcastle council in 1999 and sold for £1 to owners who used council grants and their own funds to refurbish them. The buyers made a commitment to live in them rather than rent them out.

Since then, a housing market renewal pathfinder has been set up in the area and property prices have soared. The homes are now being sold for £100,000 on the open market.

Home Group, which works in the pathfinder area, is planning a further round of house sales to people who will pledge to live in them for five years. It is set to sell

20 homes for £60,000 to £90,000 each – the discount reflects the condition that buyers must occupy the homes rather than rent them out. The sales are likely to begin in June or July.

Christina Gates, neighbourhood manager for the North Benwell Neighbourhood Management Initiative, said it had tried to improve the area by encouraging landlords to convert flats into houses and bring empty homes back into use.

She said: “When we started [18 months ago] we had 240 empty properties out of 1350. We have reduced the number of empty homes by 140 just through persuasion. Of the rest, [there are] only 20 we have to really target. We are looking at things like compulsory purchase but hopefully it won’t get to that stage.”

A handful of the landlords used grants from the neighbourhood management initiative to refurbish the homes, but most did not need public funding.

Source

Housing Today