Today, 27 November, is Lancashire Day, marking a moment in history in 1295 when Lancashire first sent representatives to Parliament. Today, government-backed schemes such as Help to Buy and the current Stamp Duty holiday announced this summer, means the county’s property market has been a busy one since the first easing of lockdown.
The extraordinary circumstances of this year has seen many of us reconsider what’s most important about the place we live in, and has led to a very active property market, with a brand new home very appealing to people who value the latest designs and specifications.
Redrow has seen a 70% increase in sales during the last six months than the same period last year at Oak Leigh Gardens in Clitheroe. Sian Pitt, sales director for Redrow Lancashire said: “The pent-up demand for homes meant that we had lots of interest at developments across Lancashire. In a survey we conducted with buyer’s post-lockdown, we asked whether they were reassessing how they wanted to use space in their home and what features they wanted in their next home. The results showed that, across the North West, the most important factors to buyers were for their homes to have larger kitchens and private outdoor space.”
Oak Leigh Gardens has a wide choice for buyers thanks to two distinct new house collections that include a number of three- and four-bedroom homes.
Oak Leigh Gardens
The Heritage Collection offers traditional Arts and Crafts-inspired architecture with period style features, while the Harwood range provides streamlined, smart exteriors, finished in stone, for those who prefer a more contemporary look. All homes come with their own private gardens and open-plan kitchen and dining areas. Prices start at £364,995.
Nestled between Pendle Hill and the Forest of Bowland, in the sought-after Ribble Valley, Oak Leigh Gardens’ rural location has also proved to be an attractive selling point, especially as it’s so well connected. Situated just off the main A59 Preston Road, the homes are close to the M6; Clitheroe is less than three miles away and places like Blackburn, Burnley, Preston and even Manchester are all easily reached. Closer to home, there’s an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ rated primary school just a short walk away, and two ‘Outstanding’ rated senior schools within a couple of miles.
Find out more about Oak Leigh Gardens from Redrow Homes.
Anwyl Homes is releasing the first properties at its brand new Priory Gardens development in Burscough for sale off-plan on Saturday 28 November, with more than 200 people have already registered their interest. It is arranging appointments to see potential purchasers and offers digital resources to help inform buyers, including extensive ‘behind the scenes’ access.
Matthew Gould, head of sales for the housebuilder, said: “We’ve given careful consideration to how we can empower buyers to have the confidence to reserve a new home off-plan. We have a wealth of resources to help people appreciate the layouts of our thoughtfully designed homes, including video tours available via our YouTube channel. Through the video footage there’s a chance for our customers to ‘meet’ the developments award-winning site manager Chris Johnston and the sales team, plus other aspects they wouldn’t normally see during a traditional launch.”
Priory Gardens
Anwyl has planning consent to build 267 new homes at Priory Gardens. The first phase will feature 87 homes, including a mix of three-bedroom semi-detached and detached designs and a selection of four-bedroom detached properties. Every home will include an electric vehicle charging point and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) broadband. Show homes at the development are due to open in the spring. Find out more at www.anwyl.co.uk.
Prospect Homes enlisted Stanza Style to dress the new four-bedroom ‘Bembridge’ and ‘Cavendish’ show homes in the latest phase of The Ridings on Whittingham Road, Longridge. Designer Alex Egan said: “Both properties are a good size and we’ve thought about who might live in these homes and designed the show homes to create the illusion of real family homes. There’s a big trend for using everyday items more imaginatively as people try to be more sustainable, attempt their own crafty projects and create something different in their own homes and so we’ve worked this into the show homes.
The ‘Cavendish’ at The Ridings
“The ‘Cavendish’ includes a fun children’s bedroom with a tearoom theme using an Ikea hack. We’ve taken a Kallax shelving unit, turned it on its side to create tea shop counter by adding a white frame and canopy. To complete the room we’ve included themed toys including espresso machine, till, food and table and chairs for serving teddy bear friends.”
The Ridings offers a choice of three- and four-bedroom homes, priced from £207,995. Those who love the layout of the show homes and want to make a property in the same style, can purchase a ‘Bembridge’ from £265,000 or a ‘Cavendish’ from £290,000. Find out more at www.prospecthomes.co.uk.
At its Green Hills development in Feniscowles, on the edge of Blackburn, Kingswood Homes has named its Home of the Week. Plot 146 is the ‘Byre B’ house type, a detached four-bedroom home perfect for families.
‘Byre B’ house type at Green Hills
It has an open-plan kitchen/dining/sitting room and a separate family room with patio doors opening onto the garden. There’s also a large reception hall and laundry room with WC. The master bedroom has an en suite and there are two more double bedrooms, a single bedroom and a family bathroom. This home is £314,950 and has Help to Buy available. Reserve this weekend and receive flooring fitted throughout.
Green Hills is a development of 185 new homes set around two village greens, situated on a Pennine hillside and enjoying countryside views. The site features no fewer than 61 individual designs by Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway, inspired by traditional Lancashire farmsteads and barns. Prices start at £209,995 for the current range of three-, four- and five-bedroom houses.
Find out more about Green Hills from Kingswood Homes.
Case study: Catriona and Jeremy
For Catriona Sudlow and Jeremy Welch, getting ‘more house for their money’ was one reason behind relocating from Macclesfield in Cheshire to Fulwood in Lancashire.
Having previously lived in Tytherington, Jeremy and Catriona decided that they wanted to upgrade from a three-bedroom semi-detached home to a detached property that would give them more space.
With family in Preston, the couple chose to start their new home search close by and, after finding a home that ‘ticked all the boxes’, they are now settling in at Redrow’s Tabley Green in Fulwood.
Marketing account director, Jeremy, said realising how much more house they could get for their money was the reason they decided to relocate to Fulwood: “Some of the things we wanted in our next home was for it to be detached, to have an open-plan layout downstairs, a room we could use as a study, a double driveway plus an integral garage. The ‘Shrewsbury’ has all this and more.
“What we wanted was to move into a larger, more suitable home but not increase our monthly expenditure too much. Our new home is allowing us to enjoy a better way of life in a house that we will be in for a long time.”
The couple sold their previous home using Redrow’s Help to Sell scheme. After they’d chosen their new home, Redrow appointed a trusted estate agent to value and market their previous home to achieve a quick sale while also contributing towards fees.
Jeremy continued: “Following a tough few months on the market, with the uncertainty that Brexit brought, quickly followed by Covid-19 lockdown, the support that the Help to Sell scheme gave us, as lockdown was released led to an influx of viewings, followed by a quick sale.”
Find out more about Tabley Green.
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