Bulletin Summer 2014

HELP HERMES UNVEIL THEIR PLANS FOR CAVERSHAM

TO BUY A grand new scheme has been unveiled by the owners of St Martins Precinct,

Hermes, in partnership with John Lewis The Government has created the Help to Buy PLC to rejuvenate and re-style the central scheme to help hard-working people take steps to hub of Caversham. buy their own home. Whether you want to get The plans include enlarging Waitrose by a onto the housing ladder or move up it, Help to third, adding another car parking level, Buy makes it possible to buy a new-build or existing home priced up to £600,000 with as little creating a boutique cinema, further as a 5% deposit. Here’s how it works: restaurants, tree planting, up to 50 residential apartments and a new plaza style pedestrian Help to Buy: Equity Loan - For brand new homes area beyond the existing precinct. in . The Government lends you up to 20% Whilst the junction of Church Street and of the cost of your new-build home, so you’ll only Archway Road which creates much traffic and need a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to provides access to the car park, may still need make up the rest. You won’t be charged loan fees improving, Hermes hope that after public and on the 20% loan for the first five years of owning Council consultations the scheme will begin your home. within two years.

Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee - For new-build More information can be found at or existing homes anywhere in the UK. Mortgage www.stmartinscentre-caversham.co.uk guarantee scheme works in exactly the same way as any other mortgage except that under the scheme the Government offers lenders the option A new look to Church St in Caversham to purchase a guarantee on mortgage loans.

Because of this support, lenders taking part are able to offer home buyers more high loan to value mortgages (80-95%).

You will still be fully responsible for your mortgage repayments. So if you have a 5% deposit, you will need to take out and pay back a 95% mortgage.

For more information visit: http://www.helptobuy.org.uk

The hoopla over Zoopla!

Farmer & Dyer are delighted to announce that we have recently linked up with Zoopla to market all our properties for sale and to let.

So not only are we with Rightmove, we are now utilising both of the major property portals to give our clients the very best local and national internet coverage in the Caversham area.

Coming Soon…in June All the houses provide excellent Berrybrook living accommodation over Berrybrook three floors and include

Locally based developers, T A Kitchen/Family Rooms, Living

Fisher & Sons, have instructed Room, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

Farmer & Dyer to sell their latest and either a carport or a garage. development of just 8 semi For further information and a detached homes just off the Henley brochure please call us on Road, Caversham. 0118 9461800.

Parliamentary Summit held on plans

for Third Bridge

During March, our local MP, Rob Wilson co-chaired a summit with John Henley MP at Westminster which aimed to make a breakthrough on proposals for a third Thames Bridge.

The Summit brought together all the local authorities affected by the existing traffic problems

owing to the lack of the third bridge (, Wokingham Borough Council,

and Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council) together with those councils whose areas may be impacted by the construction of a third bridge ( County Council, South Oxfordshire District Council).

The summit also included representatives of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the body which is tasked with deciding what the priorities should be for investment in infrastructure in the area, and the Department of Transport.

The summit heard from local council representatives that the current bridges across the Thames are no longer fit to accommodate volume of traffic, with thousands of people from South Oxfordshire commuting into Reading every day. The result has been frequent traffic gridlock, causing inconvenience to businesses and potentially putting big businesses off investing and locating into the area. Thames Valley Berkshire LEP confirmed from its strategic plan feedback survey that showed business strongly supported the need for a third bridge as a priority.

It was agreed that officers from the area’s local authorities would work to address the concerns of Oxfordshire and South Oxfordshire councils that a bridge could lead to an increase in traffic in villages in South Oxfordshire. The Oxfordshire councils have agreed to share their traffic data with the others, and the group of councils aim to present a common view on the scope of what is required for a third Thames bridge to a follow-up summit in early June. This will then lead to detailed modelling of the projected traffic patterns, plus various options for delivering and managing the bridge

Source- Rob Wilson newsletter

Didn’t she do well ! Blue marks the spot Hearty congratulations to our superstar, Megan, for raising £1385 for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. In March, Megan doggedly ran in rainy conditions the 13.1 miles course at Silverstone, Northamptonshire and crossed the finishing line in just over three hours. Megan said ‘it was hard but definitely worth it! ’ Has anyone noticed this blue plaque in our area? CAVERSHAM PROPERTY PRICE NEWS Easily missed yet this plaque can be

The latest monthly House Price Index issued by Rightmove found high u p at The Red House in Sonning just after The Great House commented that the southern region of England had restaurant. I t commemorates the experienced, for the second successive month, a new all residency of Sir Terence Rattigan CBE, time high for average asking prices. An increase of 2.6% a British dramatist who wrote some of meant that the average asking price was £262,594. the most important plays of the 20th century including The Winslow Boy

We compared this figure to the new properties that we and The Deep Blue Sea. marketed in April and May, and found our average asking Follow us for instant prices to be £391,094 and £456,586 respectively. updates on all news, views & anything local: Whilst the lack of supply and high demand continue s to Twitter/farmeranddyer increase the asking prices there is an expectation that the market cannot continue to sustain these levels of growth, with the likel ihood over the summer months that a …not just for the young! cooling off period will become more likely . On facebook we also post lots of interesting local Indeed there have been several properties in the area over news and light hearted fun. the last two months that have reduced their asking prices Why not find us and ‘like’ in order to create serious interest. us at : facebook/farmeranddyer