The first shop to sell plots of land for people in the UK who want to build their own home, either custom or self-build, has opened.
Based in Bicester, it is selling plots of land on the Graven Hill site in Oxfordshire to those wishing to build their own home whether from scratch or through customised design.
Once complete, the Graven Hill development will be the largest of its kind in the UK, delivering up to 1,900 new self and custom build homes.
By making it easier to access land and expert advice, Graven Hill’s plot shop aims to pioneer custom and self-build as a mainstream choice for aspiring home owners.
‘We need to get creative with how we build our housing in this country, to deliver more of the right homes in the places people want to live. With the opening of the UK’s first plot shop the journey to building your own home can now start on the high street,’ said Housing and Planning Minister Alok Sharma who opened the shop.
He pointed out that the Government is committed to doubling the number of custom and self- build homes by 2020 so that anyone who wishes to design their dream house can do so.
‘Through diversifying the housing market in this way, we can give people greater choice over the homes they live in whether that’s buying on the open market or by commissioning and building their dream home,’ Sharma added.
‘Graven Hill is pioneering in the sense that for the first time, new home buyers have the flexibility to choose between building their own house and custom designing one that meets their individual requirements,’ said Karen Curtin, managing director of Graven.
‘To date, over 81% of plots released in Phase 1a have been sold and over the course of the next 10 years, Graven Hill will become a community of 1,900 properties. We are still at the beginning of our journey but with the first occupations imminent there has never been a more exciting time to be involved with self and custom building,’ she added.
There is the possibility that plot buyers may be able to access the flagship Government Help to Buy schemes and lenders are expected to be offering more mortgage products of this kind of home building.
Currently the only mainstream lender in this sector is Virgin Money but there are smaller bespoke lenders offering mortgage products for custom and self-build.
‘The custom build market is a really exciting area of new house building that offers significant growth potential, providing a supply of high quality homes specifically designed to buyers’ individual requirements,’ said Peter Rogerson, Virgin Money’s director of mortgages.
‘Virgin Money is committed to helping more people achieve their dream of home ownership and we are proud to be the only mainstream mortgage lender offering a custom build proposition. We worked closely with the team at Graven Hill to develop our proposition, and we are delighted to see the new plot shop open to highlight to potential buyers the attractive opportunities available to them,’ he added.
Custom build gives aspiring home builders the tools to design the house of their dreams, whilst leaving it to the professionals to build. The industry says that this removes some of the risk of a self-build project and it is estimated that it could deliver over 40,000 homes a year in the UK.
Since April 2016, every council across the country has been required to hold a register of those seeking to build their own home. Over 18,000 aspiring custom and self-builders have now signed up to their local registers.
Local authorities will use their registers as a measure of demand for self and custom build in their areas. The legislation requires local authorities to find and commission sufficient land to match the demand on their registers.
The Government’s Home Building Fund, launched in October 2016, targets £1 billion in short term loan finance to support small and medium-sized enterprise builders, innovation and custom build.
