Britain's house building industry has unveiled ambitious plans for a national New Homes Week to promote the many benefits of buying a new home.

The New Homes Marketing Board (NHMB) believe New Homes Week 2009 (NHW09), scheduled for September 12th to 20th this year, will be a nationwide celebration of all that's great about new homes – and will demonstrate why now is a great time to buy.

NHW09 will see events and launches aimed at promoting the benefits of new homes taking place on homebuilders' sites the length and breadth of the country.

Similar promotional weeks were last held in 2005 and 2006, with plans for another last year cancelled due to the scale of the market downturn.

David Pretty CBE, Chairman of the NHMB, said: "With some good early indicators of consumer confidence returning, we feel that mid-September is the perfect time to launch New Homes Week 2009. Our own recent surveys show that nine out of ten people still firmly believe that buying their own home is a sensible investment in their future, but last year was clearly just too challenging for them.


"Now, though, we are seeing the beginnings of an improvement in mortgage availability, prices have dropped, affordability has improved and our house builders have seen a modest but steady increase in sales over recent months. So, we believe now is an ideal time to celebrate all that’s great about new homes. There are some fantastic deals out there, and we want to see people visiting their local show homes to see the fantastic choice of new homes available."

While New Homes Week 2009 will largely focus on the thousands of new home developments and their show homes up and down the country, the New Homes Marketing Board will be providing strong national support.

Press releases will be produced for each day of the week, highlighting different aspects and benefits of new homes. Daily themes will include:

• Cost – prices are lower and you can now get fantastic deals on new homes
• New homes are 'green' homes – and offer big savings on utility bills
• Advice and tips on mortgages
• Why buying new is a better option than buying second-hand
• Retirement properties – security, affordability and freedom!

The NHMB will also be producing a 16 page newspaper featuring a wide range of articles promoting new homes.

(GK/KMcA)