BUY a house, get a free Mercedes to park outside. That is just one of an unprecedented number of astonishing incentives dangled in front of increasingly nervous house buyers as the Scottish market continues to slow down.
As well as the new car deal – worth around £15,000 – other companies are trying to lure buyers of new houses with packages of incentives worth up to £30,000.
Others are offering free mortgage deals for a year, 105% part-exchange on previous homes,
or free legal fees and no stamp duty. Buyers are also being offered sales at 75% of the purchase price with the balance on interest-free loans for five years.
Even potential landlords who want to purchase buy-to-let flats are being offered a guaranteed rental figure for four years.
Housing experts said the range and volume of offers reflected the slowdown in the market since last year.
The Mercedes deal was offered on selected properties in central Scotland selling from £139,000 to £500,000 by Consort Homes until the end of last month.
A £30,000 incentive package by Cala involved a new development of luxury homes in East Lothian and included items such as floor coverings, interior design, cash discounts and landscaping. Other deals on offer include:
&149 105% part exchange on your old property being offered on the purchase of new homes in Eskbridge, Midlothian, by Applecross;
&149 £400 per month towards mortgages, £500 towards legal fees and free surveys on homes in Tranent, Glenrothes and near Stirling by Tulloch Homes;
&149 £500 a month towards mortgages on properties being built by Gladedale in Braehead;
&149 100% part-exchange and stamp duty paid on selected sites at Charles Church's Dalkeith Heights development in Midlothian;
• A four-year guarantee to contribute towards an agreed rent on buy-to-let flats in Edinburgh being built by Bryant Homes.
Consort's Scottish marketing manager Patricia Flemming said: "We offered the car just to be different. A lot of other companies are offering mortgage subsidies, so this was a way of us standing out."
Cala's communications director Gill Gray said incentives were offered because they were often the "key that unlocks the deal".
"It's the difference between someone walking away and going somewhere else and staying with us," she said. "Of course, they have to want the house itself in the first place.
"There are quite a few stock properties – ready now or that will be in the next few months – not sold. It costs developers money the moment a house is roofed, so they want them off their hands."
House market experts said the number and variety of incentives being offered were unprecedented.
Mark Hordern, marketing manager at the Glasgow Solicitors Property Centre, said: "
Until recently, there were a lot of off-plan sales before the properties were even built, so developers did not need to offer as much. In a slowing market, that is no longer the case, so they have to use other methods to attract custom.
"Sometimes they offer incentives to get rid of the last few houses on a development to improve their cash flow and move on to other projects but it is more than that now.
With fewer buyers active, the developers have to work harder."
David Alves managing director of Stewart Saunders, said: "This is symptomatic of the fact that buyers are thin on the ground, so developers are trying to maximise sales with bigger and better incentives. If anyone wants a new home, now is a fantastic time.
"This improves affordability for groups such as first-time buyers."
The overall UK market has slowed, despite cuts in interest rates. Despite this, the Scottish market for all types of houses was staying "remarkably robust", said Hordern.
"A significant number of buyers have come on to the market in the expectation of being able to buy a property without having to pay over the odds."
The full article contains 663 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
