Apartments at Phoenix Square in Leicester's fashionable St George's cultural quarter are being made more affordable for first time buyers.

'FirstBuy', a government-backed initiative, offers a 20 per cent interest free loan on selected apartments for buyers who would otherwise be at risk of being priced out of the housing market.

A presentation on this equity loan product from the government's Homes and Communities Agency is taking place on Wednesday September 14th at 6pm at Phoenix Square for anyone interested in purchasing a property through the scheme.

Mary Stephenson, special projects manager at local estate agents James Sellicks, said: "This is a great initiative to help people make that first important step onto the property ladder. 

"There are some fairly straightforward conditions for purchasers to satisfy - for instance, purchasers need to be first time buyers, and with a household income of less than £60,000 - but it's well worth anyone interested attending the event to find out more."

The scheme provides an equity loan, interest free for the first five years, to qualifying purchasers of up to 20 per cent of the property's purchase price - leaving purchasers to find just 80 per cent of the asking price.  

John Long, development director at Blueprint, said: "So, for example, if the purchase price of a home is £100,000, the FirstBuy contribution would be £20,000, leaving the purchaser to finance just £80,000. 

"The purchaser contribution would normally be funded via a mortgage in the normal way, with many large mortgage providers being signed up to the scheme, and typically requiring the purchaser to put down just a 5-10% deposit on the mortgage sum. 

"When the purchaser sells the home, the proceeds are split 80/20 - so buyers still have the potential benefit of any rises in the market."

The event is taking place in ETC Suite Three at Phoenix Square.

For more information and to register your attendance please call Mary on 0116 285 1608 or e-mail mary@cityicon.com.

Phoenix Square is a unique cultural building, which combines contemporary living space, with independent arts cinema, café bar, state of the art workspaces and office studios to house Leicester's growing number of creative businesses. 

It is the creation of a partnership project between Blueprint, Phoenix, and Leicester City Council in collaboration with De Montfort University and is an example of 21st century sustainable building design, coupled with leading-edge architectural quality.