Pocket - Page 9 of 11 - Starter homes for city makers

Buying a home in your local area – the tale of Thomas Golden

April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 Hannah Godwin Leave a comment

Become a homeowner in the area where you grew up – Pocket makes it happen!

The idea of buying a home where you grew up seems a bit of a pipe-dream – pie in the sky even! And so it may be for many Londoners, but Pocket is trying hard to make it possible for as many city makers as possible to own a home in their local area.

We are very proud to introduce Thomas Golden. You may have already spotted him in the Metro this morning, his is one of the buyers of Pocket’s compact homes in Oak Grove NW2.

Thomas and his mum on handover day.

How to make a room look bigger

March 31, 2016February 19, 2021 Hannah Godwin Leave a comment

As we spend more time in our homes, having space in every room is more important than ever. A clear space is a clear mind, helping to increase productivity, reduce stress and generally make it easier to move around the house. This means that if you ever feel cramped in your home, the sooner you take action, the better.

Thankfully, knowing how to make a room feel bigger is much easier than it seems. You can make an instant impact by decluttering your house, using mirrors and using brighter colours. Read on for more tips to make a room bigger below.

Calling all Pocket residents: win £500 with the #LivingwithPocket competition

March 21, 2016March 21, 2016 Hannah Godwin Leave a comment

There has been a lot of interest in what we do recently, things have been very busy and everyone from the press, politicians and city makers want to know what it is like to live in a Pocket home. So we want to hear from our residents.

If you live in a Pocket home you can enter our #LivingwithPocket competition for a chance of winning £500 to spend with one of our favourite shops Triangle.

Housing leads the mayoral debate

February 25, 2016September 16, 2020 Hannah Godwin Leave a comment

On Tuesday night, a couple of lucky people from Pocket were in the front row for a debate by the London mayoral candidates entirely devoted to the subject of housing in the Capital. Mayoral hopeful Sadiq Khan launched his campaign by saying that the election in May was going to be “a referendum on housing” and from the level of engagement on Tuesday night – he was right. It was mentioned that previous Mayoral elections have been centred around the key issue of transport or policing and this vote will be defined by the candidate that reassures the electorate that they will make an impact on the housing crisis.

Pocket receives strategic investment from US company

February 3, 2016February 3, 2016 Hannah Godwin Leave a comment

Related Companies makes a ground-breaking strategic investment in Pocket

We are extremely excited to announce that we have attracted a new investor to Pocket. This week we became equity partners with Related Companies, the largest owner and developer of affordable housing in the US. This strategic investment in Pocket is a trail-blazing deal as it brings investment from across the pond into the UK’s affordable housing market. Related have acquired a 50% stake in Pocket, and will be working with us to scale up our delivery of discounted flats for sale and rent in London.

Pocket bond on Crowdcube attracts double-investors

December 10, 2015December 10, 2015 Hannah Godwin Leave a comment

So good they invested twice

We launched the first Pocket bond on Crowdcube back in March 2015, offering 7.5% interest over a four year term, and we quickly achieved our funding goal. Our second bond, the Pocket Land Bond, launched last week and we are already 10% funded, thanks to a good level of repeat investment. We are very grateful to those who show continued support for Pocket, and we contacted a couple of our ‘double-investors’ to find out what it was that attracted them to the Pocket bond – twice.

Pocket gets moving in Lambeth

December 7, 2015December 7, 2015 Hannah Godwin 6 Comments

On track to deliver 127 new Pocket homes in Lambeth in 2016

It’s all happening in Lambeth! Having just started building our latest development Mountearl Gardens SW16 in Streatham, Pocket has this corner of London on the brain. One of the boroughs where city makers most want to buy their first home is Lambeth, and what’s not to like?! Lambeth stretches all the way from the River Thames (overlooking Westminster) through multicultural Brixton, down to leafy Streatham. There’s something for everyone, and we are underway with Pocket schemes dotted from the top of the borough to the bottom, between them delivering 127 affordable Pocket homes, most of them one bedroom.

Construction at Wynne Road SW9 is well underway, and having started last week on-site at Mountearl Gardens SW16 we are really excited about the innovative modular construction methods we’re using, working with Donban Contracting UK, to reduce construction times and improve economies of scale – getting these homes delivered sooner. Sail Street and Juxon Street are due to start construction January 2016, using this same innovative approach. Here’s a round-up of all our upcoming Lambeth schemes:

Help for Help to Buy!

December 1, 2015December 7, 2015 Hannah Godwin 4 Comments

Helping to make Help to Buy helpful

Help! The government has its heart in the right place, trying to ‘help’ first time buyers with its Help to Buy schemes… and as of today a new one has launched, the Help to Buy ISA. It can all feel very confusing – we’re not promising to ‘deconfuse’ things completely, but here is a brief summary of how Help to Buy works with Pocket, and links to some nice clear explanations.

Mayor kicks off first Pocket homes in Lewisham

November 27, 2015November 27, 2015 Hannah Godwin Leave a comment

Pocket was delighted that Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham and Lewisham Housing Chief Cllr Damien Egan kicked off the construction of 26 affordable Pocket homes yesterday for local people in Lewisham.

MV, SB, DE talking on site JPEG

How London Help to Buy might work for Pocket buyers

November 26, 2015December 7, 2015 Hannah Godwin Leave a comment

Announced in the government’s Spending Review yesterday, ‘London Help to Buy‘ is a punchy new addition to the Help to Buy family. And now that we’ve got our heads around how the Help to Buy equity loan works in principle, we can easily understand the London version. When coupled with the government’s commitment to create 200,000 starter homes, things should be easier for first time buyer in London, which is great news.

In simple terms, from early 2016 first time buyers in London will be able to borrow up to 40% of a new property’s value from the government, interest free for five years. This means that buyers will need to raise a smaller mortgage, which will open the market up to more people on lower incomes. Pocket hope this will help even more first time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder.