Hot summer sales

It has been an active summer for new homes sales despite it being a traditionally quiet period for the property market.

"Anyone in the property market knows that August is recognised as the worst month of the year for sales figures not least because it is the school holidays and a vast majority of people are on holiday", says Dean Markall, sales and marketing director of new homes developer, Hillreed Homes.

Markall says that Hillreed Homes, which currently has 19 sites operating in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey, has recorded steady sales figures throughout the year. Even in August, notoriously the slowest month of the year, this trend has continued with good levels of demand and the sale of five new homes in just four days.

He adds: "So I was surprised to keep getting phone calls from our sales staff over the weekend when five of our houses went firmly under offer."

Markall believes that of those people actively looking to buy property, many are opting for new homes.

He continued: "New homes are ideal as fuel bills are noticeably lower than a similar sized older style property and with little or no maintenance to cause concern they offer extremely good value for money. In addition they tend to go up in value quicker than older style properties."

Figures released by HM Revenue and Customs earlier this week revealed that UK property transactions remained at their highest level of the year in July, with 79,000 homes sold during the month.

However, this was down 10,000 on sales 12 months earlier, and almost half the 151,000 homes sold at the height of the property boom in July 2007.