iPads to boost first time buyer numbers

Posted: 30 Mar 2006 16:18:05 GMT

Housebuilder Barratt has announced it is to build hundreds of iPad flats in towns across the UK.

The flats are designed to get first time buyers, previously priced out of the market, on to the property ladder, with prices starting at £80,000 in the north of the country.

The firm's finance director Colin Dearlove told the Guardian: "This is designed to be an affordable product but it is not too small. It has a reasonable sized living room and a proper kitchen and full bathroom.

"We sold the Middlesbrough units without any trouble at all, so the demand is there," he added.

The company said that it hopes to receive planning permission for a number of sites around London over the coming year.

Around 100 of the small flats, costing £110,000, are set to be built in Colchester, with £120,000 versions pencilled in for Slough and Reading.

It is hoped that 1,800 flats in 40 UK towns will eventually be built.

The company announced this week that pre-tax profits rose to £163.9 million for the six months to December 31st, up four per cent on the same period in 2004.


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