St Modwen Homes’ Joanne Winston tells us how the housebuilder’s range of incentive schemes can help all sorts of buyers, and the design and upgrade options in its portfolio of homes.
Can you tell us a bit about your role and day-to-day responsibilities at St Modwen Homes?
I am responsible for managing all sales and marketing operations which enable us to deliver the business’s overall strategic objectives.
St Modwen homes are all designed to incorporate a philosophy of light and height, how do you achieve this?
Our group-wide range of homes are all designed to maximise daylighting and solar gains due to the larger windows and high ceilings, which are larger and higher than most other housebuilders. We achieve this from the very beginning at the design stage, ensuring that each of our homes are designed with the light and height philosophy in mind. This in turn allows the environments we create to feel spacious and full of natural light.
As a company, you've set a target of building 1,500 new homes per year by 2023; are you on track to achieve this?
St Modwen Homes is currently forward sold by 60% for 2021 which shows that there is a strong appetite for new homes in the property market. We are looking forward to continuing to thrive and reach our target of 1,500 homes per annum by 2023.
In 2020, St Modwen Homes sold 948 new homes; how is 2021 going so far?
As mentioned above, we are currently forward sold by 60%. We’re extremely proud of our achievements so far for this year, and we expect to continue our success throughout the remainder of 2021. With the latest government announcement surrounding Stamp Duty and the government-backed 95% LTV mortgage guarantee scheme, there’s no better time for home hunters to buy.
Do you think the layout of homes will change forever after so many of us have spent the last year working from home?
As a result of the pandemic, we have all spent more time at home than we could have ever imagined. We have all had to adapt and evolve to suit our new requirements, and so have our homes.
We understand that one of the first things purchasers will look at when buying a new home is the layout, and with so many of us working from home, this is more relevant than ever before. At St Modwen Homes we offer customers the chance to choose their floorplan and decide if they would prefer open-plan living or separate living spaces. Available on a selected number of homes across the country, ‘Choose your floorplan’ offers a selection of different living space arrangements, allowing purchasers to personalise their new home with their ideal layout. Along with a choice of floorplan, customers have the opportunity to upgrade certain spaces in their homes, one of which is the garden. At St Modwen Homes, customers have the option to upgrade their garden with a garden pod, which is an increasingly popular choice as they are ideal for home offices.
As well as the above, we will soon be releasing our new house types’ portfolio which really offers varied options to support our customers’ needs.
Bramshall Meadows, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire
Which schemes are you focusing on at the moment?
We are currently focusing on the Stamp Duty holiday extension as well as the Help to Buy scheme. Also, our Part Exchange Max scheme has been extremely popular due to its benefits.
Although the government has announced a further extension on the Stamp Duty holiday on homes worth up to £500,000 until 30 June 2021, we’ve extended our Stamp Duty holiday scheme until 30 September 2021. This will give customers even more time to complete on their new home. Our Stamp Duty holiday extension is available on a selected number of homes worth up to £500,000, allowing purchasers to save up to £15,000.
We also understand how difficult it is for first-time buyers to step onto the property ladder. The government-backed Help to Buy Equity Loan has made a huge difference to first-time buyers, allowing them to purchase their first home with just a 5% deposit.
Part Exchange Max is the perfect solution for customers who have a home to sell but don’t want the hassle of selling it themselves. With Part Exchange Max, purchasers will be able to reserve their new home without having sold their existing one. We’ll take care of everything by putting their home on the market for four weeks, paying all agent fees, and we’ll also take care of their removal costs. If their home doesn’t sell, they can fall back on our agreed Part Exchange price.
Are you offering buyer incentives when they purchase a new home?
We understand that homes can come with many expenses, so we offer a variety of incentives to suit a range of purchasers. This includes our First-Time Buyer Boost and our Key Worker incentive.
To make it easier for first time buyers to get onto the property ladder, we introduced our First Time Buyer Boost. With this incentive, first-time buyers pay a reservation fee of just £99, and we also pay their solicitor fees. They can also choose all their carpets and flooring throughout their new home completely free of charge.
Our Key Worker incentive is our small way of saying a huge thank you to all key and critical workers. Each key worker offer is tailor-made to suit the individual preferences of the customer. This makes it an incredibly versatile incentive which can benefit a range of different homebuyers, all with their own very specific desires for their new home. Whether a customer would like a contribution towards home enhancements, such as flooring, turf and kitchen upgrades, or perhaps support with legal fees and moving costs, the bespoke incentive is completely tailorable to their wants and needs.
Littlecombe, Dursley, Gloucestershire
How does St Modwen Homes work to invest in the local communities where it builds new homes?
At St Modwen Homes, we believe a home is much more than just bricks and mortar, it’s also the community that surrounds you. Our main aim is to bring people together and connect our developments with the wider local area.
We choose to build our homes in places that have great access to public services, employment, education, retail, restaurants, and the countryside. As well as creating outdoor spaces that foster community interaction and safe areas for children to play together, we build strong relationships with authorities, neighbouring communities, and local businesses.
What would be your best piece of advice for somebody looking to buy a new home?
To really think about what location would be best suited to them and also which house type would work best for their lifestyle. Location is one of the biggest factors when it comes to purchasing a home, and house-hunters should consider what they would like from the location. For example, some purchasers may need to be close to public transport links, whilst others may like to be near the countryside. As mentioned above, all the locations in which we build are carefully selected with a range of purchaser’s wants and needs in mind.
Secondly, the house type that customers choose is also such an important factor. Purchasers not only need to consider what is suitable for their life right now, but what they may want from their home in the future.
And finally, what will be the main areas of focus for St Modwen Homes once life begins to return to normal after the pandemic?
At St Modwen Homes we quickly adapted to the changes required at the start of the pandemic to enable customers to continue to purchase homes with ease. This meant accelerating our digital platforms to suit this shift. Online home viewings and 3D tours have become increasingly popular due to the current climate, and we believe they will continue to stay popular and evolve over the coming years. We will take these new learnings and apply them to the new normal moving forward, whatever that may be.
Find out more at stmodwenhomes.co.uk.