Abel Homes hails record new homes sales

Abel Homes is currently processing 28 house sales - the largest number of concurrent deals it has ever handled in its 20 year history.  Ten of these 28 transactions are proceeding with the assistance of the Help to Buy scheme, announced in the Chancellor's March Budget to help the construction sector.

Now the firm is gearing up construction - despite a shortage of skilled labour and materials following five troubled years in the property market.  This is great news for the economy - it is widely accepted that each new home that is built supports two full-time construction jobs for a year, so the current sales pipeline alone represents 44 jobs for Norfolk.

''We are now building as fast as we can to meet demand'' said Tony Abel.  ''Whilst the upturn is very welcome, we are now having to tackle skills and materials shortages in the sector, as well as rising materials prices''.