General Chat

Council bought 110 new homes in the Acton Gardens development for approximately £49.2 million. The homes are currently under construction and are intended for social housing tenants to help address the borough's housing crisis and long waiting lists. The average price per home is about £447,000.

Purpose:
The purchase is part of a new strategy for the council to acquire new-build homes in bulk to provide genuinely affordable housing.
Funding:
The purchase is funded through a combination of a grant from the Greater London Authority's Affordable Homes Programme and council borrowing.
Timeline:
The homes are expected to be ready to move into by autumn 2026.
Affordability:
Once completed, all properties will be let at genuinely affordable council rents, which are significantly lower than private rents.

i know we need homes but what is an affordable rent on a £447,000 property
How long before the council recoups the money
How much will our council rise
i this good value for money

love to know your thoughts

That meaningless word - 'affordable' :-(

It's always been said that investing in bricks and mortar is a good long term investment ;-)
For instance, I bought my current property for £42K 45 years ago but that is a laughable amount for property in this area now :-0

I lived in my previous council house (built in the 1930's) for 30 years, and paid full rent for at least 26 of those years - 3 years were at Uni, 1 year, during covid, I was unemployed) so I would say the cost of building it was paid at least three times!
I looked at buying it about 28 years ago (1997) the price was over £300.000 with the 'discount'!
I didn't buy it, because I was, apparently, 5 years 'short'. I would retire before the mortgage was paid.
I wasn't, because women were allegedly informed in 1995 that they would have to work another 5 years - but it seems local councils weren't!!
I pointed out this fact to the council, but they didn't want to know.
And lo! I was 66 when I retired :-P

That was a lot of money for nearly 30 years ago. But I suppose Winchester has always been expensive.

It was a lot of money - you should see the price now!
However, at the time, I could afford it - the mortgage was just over my monthly rent - rents are high here!
My children had left home, so I had my wages all to myself.