Almost 2,000 people in Cambridgeshire sign up for new £100,000 homes

The chance to get on the housing ladder in Cambridgeshire for £100,000 is already creating a huge amount of interest – before any of the homes are even finished.

Already, hundreds of people have registered with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s scheme, saying they want to be among the first buyers.

Work on the first the one-bedroom homes started last week in Fordham, as reported by the Cambridge Independent. The mayor, James Palmer, said he was pleased with the response to the scheme and believes the £100,000 affordable homes will be copied by the rest of the UK.

Mr Palmer said Cambridgeshire is leading the country in its initiative to provide people on average salaries – or below average – the chance to own a permanent residence close to their place of employment.

The scheme is one Mr Palmer believes can be expanded further in Cambridgeshire as more people step forward and say they too want to buy one of the homes.

“We are asking people to register onto a website and by doing that it will give us the evidence to say to local councils they must include them on every single development site that comes forward as part of their planning policy,” Mr Palmer explained.

“We know what the need is but it’s important to have the £100,000 home as a fully worked out policy and have people saying they want one.

“We can then, on their behalf, go and talk about the individual planning authorities about the need. That is how we are going to turbo charge it.”

He added: “Last week we had 1,500 people register for a home in Cambridgeshire and another 200 had supported the scheme, so that is 1,700 people in under three weeks.

“We are ahead of where we expected it to be. We know the need and we know that 91 per cent of people between the ages of 25 and 35 want to own their own house.

“The more people who hear about this, the more people will register for it.

“I am very pleased with the response but I am not surprised by it. I think it is the best product on the market if you want to go and buy a home. It is not something that is being done elsewhere and is unique to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

“We are leading the country here. I fully expect other authorities to see this as a template for what can be achieved in their area. The £100,000 homes will make home ownership affordable to people on average salaries close to their place of work.”

The first eight homes will be completed before the end of 2020 at Fordham.