Government help for London first timers

The First-Time Buyer Initiative – a Government scheme designed to help people get on the property ladder – is coming back to Barratt’s new Dalston Square development in Hackney, East London.

The First Time Buyer Initiative (FTBI) enables aspiring buyers who cannot otherwise afford to buy a home outright, to purchase a minimum of 50% of a new home with the Government’s Homes & Communities Agency providing the remainder of the funding.

An earlier tranche of FTBI funding proved hugely successful at Dalston Square. Additional funding now means that a further 20 or more homes there can be made available to qualifying first-time buyers.

“When FTBI was launched here last year, it was a tremendous, sell-out success” said Barratt East London sales director Gary Patrick. “We’re delighted to able to help more people onto the home ownership ladder.”

Dalston Square is not only one of London’s key strategic regeneration schemes, it offers some of the best value new homes in the capital, with one-bedroom apartments starting at under £256,000.

The £160m project is providing over 550 new homes, shops, a library and archive, plus a brand new station for the East London line extension at Dalston Junction. At the heart of the scheme is a major new town centre space around which the new homes and amenities are being built. Barratt is developing the scheme in partnership with the London Borough of Hackney, Transport for London and the London Development Agency.

With one-bedroom apartments extending up to a massive 832 sq ft – that’s actually larger than many modern three-bedroom/two-bathroom houses – Dalston Square offers space standards that are now rare in the capital.

All apartments at Dalston Square have fully-fitted bathrooms and an open-plan living/dining space with fully-fitted, integrated kitchens. A unique feature of the homes are ‘winter gardens’ – enclosed balconies which can be opened up in summer and closed off in winter to enable outdoor space to be enjoyed year round.

The current phase of Dalston Square offers one-bedroom apartments at full-market prices from £256,000. Under the FTBI scheme, qualifying buyers can get on the property ladder for a minimum of 50 per cent of the full price.

The marketing suite and show apartments are now open off Roseberry Place, Dalston (E8) – visit barratthomes.co.uk/dalston to find out more.