Allison Homes operating in house price hot spot?

Estate Agent Today – the website for the house-selling industry – says that leading experts predict that the performance of the housing market in 2018 will be broadly similar to its performance in 2017.

Despite the uncertainties of Brexit, an unexpected general election (with an even more unexpected result), and Donald Trump entering the White House in the USA the housing market in the UK remained buoyant with generally modest increases in prices. The first interest rate rise for several years and a cut in Stamp Duty for first time buyers at the end of 2017 – together with other measures announced in the budget aimed at stimulating house building – came too late in the year to have much impact.

Nationwide Building Society figures quoted by Estate Agent Today show national average house prices grew by 2.5 per cent in 2017. In the East Midlands though – where Allison Homes is most active – prices rose by 4.5 per cent.

The forecasts from experts for 2018 is another year of generally ‘flat’ prices with some regional variations that may see homes in London fall in value while those elsewhere – maybe the East Midlands again – see rising values. Property market analyst Hometrack suggests that Leicester and Nottingham will be particular ‘hot spots’. Allison Homes has developments near both of these cities.

The experts also predict that the number of new houses built in 2018 will be higher than in 2017 – which itself was 10 per cent higher than in 2016. We certainly plan to build more Allison Homes properties next year. But with only 166,000 new homes started during 2017 the industry is still a long way from delivering the government’s target of 300,000 new homes annually.

Allison Homes' Best Bits of 2017

Well that’s almost the year that was. And what a year! It was an award-winning year of sales, research and development for us.

To celebrate our achievements over the past year we want to share some of our best bits of 2017 with you. Or you can make your own selection by browsing our blog archive.


In January our own Sam Hart was promoted to director of sales for Allison Homes to oversee all our sales functions including managing and implementing various schemes that we offer to help customers purchase their new Allison home at the best possible price.

Our sister company Larkfleet Homes donated £500 to the RAF Association - one of the Peterborough mayor's chosen charities for 2017. The cheque was presented to the Mayor of Peterborough, Councillor David Sanders, during the official opening of the Larkfleet showhome in Thorney near Peterborough.

To help the future of housebuilding Larkfleet Homes also handed over a model house to the Greater Peterborough University Technical College (GPUTC). The scale model of a typical timber-framed house built by Larkfleet Homes can be taken apart and re-assembled using a set of drawings which Larkfleet has also supplied to help students who are studying the built environment to understand how a modern house is put together.

The news that Allison Homes’ sister company Larkfleet Homes received planning permission for its revolutionary elevating house, to be built on land near Spalding, Lincolnshire, hit the headlines with lots of coverage. National daily newspapers, including The Times, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Metro and the Daily Mirror, covered the story of the house which could help bring thousands of acres of flood-prone land into development. Work on constructing the house, which will sit on a steel ring beam in place of conventional foundations, is set to start early in 2018.

Our parent company, the Larkfleet Group of Companies, was shortlisted for one of the construction industry’s most prestigious awards. The group was one of just eight firms nationwide to win through to the final of the ‘Skills Initiative’ category in the Building Awards. The judges were impressed by Larkfleet’s support for a number of training initiatives, our own apprenticeship and graduate recruitment programmes, backing for local colleges and schools and sponsorship of the GPUTC.

Our CEO Karl Hick was interviewed live on BBC2 television during the channel’s coverage of the budget. Karl warned that Brexit was in danger of depriving the industry of the skilled workforce it needs to build new homes. Many EU nationals are leaving the UK, he said, and others are less willing to come.

To celebrate our enviable reputation, we produced a short video featuring customers and staff talking about our latest show home and development at Oakley Rise near Corby. At the opening of the first show home on the development customers were full of praise for the company and its houses.

Finally, we were delighted to hand £250 to local charity Evergreen Care Trust to help with its Stamford Christmas Cracker appeal. We decided to back the trust after the charity was named as ‘best social enterprise’ in the Stamford Mercury Business Awards. The Stamford Christmas Cracker campaign raises money to support the elderly community in Stamford, Bourne and the Deepings.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous and peaceful New Year

As we approach the end of 2017, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, contractors and staff and to wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a very prosperous 2018.

We look forward to welcoming you to an Allison Homes show home near you in 2018.

Count down to 2018 - New Year's Eve party ideas

Christmas is almost upon us and 2017 is waning. It’s time to turn our attention to 2018.

If you haven't already started, now’s the time to think about planning your New Year’s Eve party.

To help you, the Allison Homes team has put together a few ideas:

• Use soft, warm lighting to create a welcoming atmosphere. You could use low wattage bulbs with warm colours. Why not get changing colour lightbulbs that come with their own remote control to help you change the mood?
• Use table cloths sprinkled with festive confetti and add matching place mats to protect the cloth and the table underneath from drinks glasses.
• It’s perhaps the hardest night of the year to get a cab so make sure you have plenty of taxi company numbers to hand.
• Be prepared to put up guests who can’t get home. Have inflatable beds and pillows to hand – just in case.
• Make sure you have a large clock visible so that you don’t miss the countdown to 2018.
• Why not try something a little different? Celebrate the midnight chimes the Spanish way. Get your guests 12 grapes each. Pop a grape into your mouth for every ‘bong’ from Big Ben until they are all gone.
• Be flexible with how much food you prepare. If you are having a small gathering put together a full meal for your guests. You can be creative with your menu. If you are welcoming plenty of guests, opt for a range of sweet and savoury bites to allow your guests to eat as much as they like. 
• Use an online streaming service to create a music playlist. Tailor it to the range of guests at your party. If most of the guests at your party are friends of a similar age, then of course it is hard to resist cramming the playlist full of nostalgic tunes from your youth. Or you could stick on the telly and have a New Year’s Eve party or Jools Holland’s Hootenanny on in the background.
• Fireworks are not just for Bonfire Night. Have some fireworks to make your party go with a bang and get some sparklers in for the kids. Do remember the Firework Code.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas - please do come to see us!

The Allison Homes team is well and truly in the festive spirit and we’re looking forward to the Christmas holidays.

Our show homes will be closed over Christmas from Saturday 23 December to Wednesday 27 December inclusive. They will also be closed again between 31 December and 2 January

On the lead up to the festive season between Wednesday 20 December and Friday 22 December and from 28 to 30 December we will be open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Do please come to see us in any of our show homes - see the details here.

We will be open again as usual from Wednesday 3 January.

Do have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas entertainment

Moving to Lincolnshire and not sure what will be on this Christmas to keep the family entertained?

Perhaps you have been looking at one of our traditional brick built homes at Pinchbeck Fields and are looking at what's on offer in the surrounding area.

From shopping expeditions to pantomimes, there is plenty to do to keep everyone amused ahead of the festivities!


Why not explore Doddington Hall's Alice in Wonderland themed festive decorations? Meet Father Christmas and browse Christmas gifts, trees, and food from the farm shop.

Visit Santa in his grotto at Baytree Nurseries near Spalding. Baytree Winter Wonderland is the UK's number one Grotto. It covers 26,000 square feet of undercover area. Wind your way through hundreds of snow covered trees, climb onto Santa's magic sleigh ride and travel into the heart of Winter Wonderland. Hop off the sleigh and slowly walk past the toy workshop under twinkling lights and see Santa's little helpers hard at work.

Fancy rubbing along with Aladdin? Oh yes you do. Why not take the family to the panto at the South Holland Centre on until 31 December.

Finally, there’s a wealth of farmers’ markets and seasonal fairs around the county of Lincolnshire. Go to the Visit Lincolnshire website for more details.

Housing market is a Christmas turkey say surveyors

The UK housing market remains flat in the run up to Christmas, according to the November 2017 RICS UK Residential Market Survey.

It remains to be seen whether the scrapping of Stamp Duty for first time buyers announced in the Budget will provide much of a lift for the market.

The headline price balance eased to zero in November, indicating flat prices at the national level over the month. Once again, however, there were significant variations at a regional level. The South East and East Anglia reported negative price trends.

Looking forward, the three-month price expectations are also more or less flat at the national level as the net balance moved to -5 per cent from -10 per cent in October. Looking at price expectations at the regional level, sentiment again remains particularly cautious in London and the South East but, in contrast, contributors are confident that prices will rise in the North West, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland during the three months ahead.

The marked decline in new buyer enquiries over the previous couple of months appeared to moderate in November, 5 per cent more respondents noted a decline in demand (as oppose to an increase), compared to -19 per cent in October and -21 per cent in September.

Newly agreed sales continued to edge lower at the headline level with 10 per cent more respondents seeing a fall rather than rise, compared with -20 per cent in October. The numbers were either a flat or negative across most other areas of the UK. Going forward, national sales expectations remain flat for the coming three months.

New instructions to sell continued to deteriorate in November, as the supply crisis continues. This figure has now been declining for 22 months in succession. However, in part driven by the slower pace of sales, stock levels on estate agents’ books held broadly steady.