Housing Ladder nears first land deals
Macclesfield-based affordable homes developer Housing Ladder UK aims to build 300 units a year in the coming years, according to managing director David Sleath.
The company was formed in 2009 and has spent two years agreeing funding deals with investors, including the 1Step residential fund based in the Isle of Man.
Sleath told Place an offer had been agreed on a site in Macclesfield and talks were progressing on opportunities in Crewe including a part-built site where work could resume quickly. Sites where Housing Ladder is in talks with landowners range from 30 to 100 units in size.
Sleath said the product delivered would be a mix of two- and three-bedroom family homes and apartments offered on a range of price and tenure packages; discounted sale, shared ownership and rent to buy. The projects would stack up as commercially viable developments without need for public subsidy, he added.
Housing Ladder is targeting the band of consumers earning between £13,000 and £30,000 a year without means of raising deposits for a market value house or raising sufficient mortgage to buy. The developer aims to work with local authorities who will refer people from their waiting lists who earn too much to qualify for social housing, typically under £13,000 a year.
"There is definitely a shortage of affordable housing in Cheshire East," said Sleath. "Towns like Macclesfield, Congleton, Nantwich and Crewe are under-equipped to meet this market. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking of council housing when they hear the phrase affordable housing but it is the band above that is the real untapped market."
- Housing Ladder UK is among the sponsors at the Place North West Cheshire West Development Update event on 16 March at Northwich Memorial Hall. Click here to see more.
