Throughout this year, while the industry has endured its worst recession for decades, the award-winning company has continued to develop sites at Goole, Driffield and at Habrough Fields, near Immingham, and is already making plans to open new sites elsewhere in the East Riding.

The number of properties sold by the company so far this year has reflected the market but that has been more due to the lack of mortgage funding than the actual demand from the public. Founder and managing director Peter Ward said: “We’ve simply had to slow down work on our sites. There was no point in completing houses for sale if the market was not producing the buyers. However, we’ve been encouraged by the number of visitors to our sites during the summer and these numbers have begun to rise yet again, a sign that the market is on the up.

“Like all house builders, we introduced a raft of buyer incentives to give our customers a better chance of securing their new home when money was tight. To a large extent, these measures paid off and we have been able to maintain a steady stream of sales.

“For example, in recent weeks visitor numbers at our Captains Close site at Goole, where properties range from below £120,000 to around £225,000, have been very good and new enquiries are currently coming in at the rate of almost 30 a month. The number of re-visits is also very promising. These are often people who indicated a preference for the site earlier in the year but have not been able to get sufficient mortgage funding. Now, with more money becoming available they are coming back to reserve their new home.”

Peter added: “The signs generally are pretty good. The last few properties at our site at Southwood Park, Driffield, have now been sold. Enquiry numbers are rising again and there seems to be more mortgage funding available. We remain confident in the future, so much so that we are planning to step up building work at Habrough Fields and preparing to open our new site in Beeford early in 2010.

“People will always need new homes – recently married couples, families looking to upgrade or people relocating to this area – we just need to make sure we continue to provide good quality housing at prices that suit current market conditions.”

ENDS

Peter Ward Homes is one of the leading independent house builders in the Yorkshire and Humber region and last year celebrated its 30th anniversary. The company has featured strongly in the British Housebuilder of the Year Awards and remains the only winner from this region of the coveted Gold Award for being the leading builder of its size in the United Kingdom.

Issued on behalf of Peter Ward Homes by The Public Relations Company, Suite 7, Hesslewood Business Centre, Ferriby Road, Hessle HU13 0LH. For further information contact Mike Stathers on (01482) 647575 or email mike@tprc.co.uk