Modular homes could be key for 1st-time buyers

Increasing the number of modular or prefabricated homes on the property market could help first-time buyers get on to the housing ladder.

And one firm that specialises in making modular housing even believes first-time buyers could save at least £25,000 by buying a modular home as their initial property purchase.

Comfortable Living says the cost of building a typical detached home in the UK costs on average £1,230 per square metre. External works add a further 20 percent, plus a 15 percent risk allowance and then another 10 percent for the builder's fee. With an average UK detached home comprising of 67.8 square metres, that puts the total build cost at £126,592.

But Comfortable Living estimates they can knock 20 percent off that total cost through its modular properties, giving home buyers a potential saving of more than £25,000.

Its modular homes, all manufactured in the UK, come in two, three and four-bedroom options. Approved by the NHBC, the properties are also approved by the majority of mortgage lenders.

Saadat Khan, chief executive of Comfortable Living, said: "Modular housing can provide a realistic solution to at least help address the current housing crisis.

"Of course, like the traditional process, the overall cost is relevant to the cost of the land for any given plot, but the construction cost and time can be drastically reduced through the modular construction process.

"We can assemble a house in less than a week at our facility, and once delivered on site, it can be erected in just half a day with the money saved passed on to the homebuyer, not pocketed as profit.

"Had the small proportion of new-build properties that were built and purchased by first-time buyers last year been done so through modular construction, the savings would have been vast."