Hold the front page – house prices are more affordable than they have been for years.

There hasn’t been a better time to bag a bargain since the dark days of January 2009, crowed Zoopla last month. Sixteen per cent of properties on the market in England and Wales in September had come down in price said the online agent.

It isn’t only homeowners who are lowering their expectations if they want a quick sale. With the end of the year only weeks away and an an eye on final sales figures for 2018, housebuilders are digging deep and coming up with a range of sparkling incentives for buyers in a position to commit to buying a new home. You’ll need to be quick though.

To take advantage of offers from two of the housebuilders the Bucks Free Press spoke to this week, you’ll need to make what could be a life-changing decision right now, well, before the middle of next week.

Reserve a house on a new development between Stoke Poges and Slough before next Thursday and the builders will pay your mortgage for six months.

That’s the offer from the company set up as a 50:50 joint venture between Slough Borough Council and Morgan Sindall Investments to spearhead a re-building programme to help Slough shake off its sad-o Cinderella image and give the locals something to cheer about.

The far-reaching 20-year plan to transform not just the town but also the trading estate is expected to cost nearly £1bn.

Geographically Slough shares the same advantages as the neighbouring Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Wexham doesn’t have a castle or the River Thames flowing past a public park on the edge of the shopping centre but the journey time into London or Heathrow is almost as quick.

The first new homes built by Slough Urban Renewal, the joint venture company were hailed a success. The properties on the milestone development in the town centre were popular with buyers. They sold quickly. Following on from that is the current development of 104 two, three and four-bedroom homes in the village setting at Wexham Green.

When the second scheme was launched a year ago, general manager Andy Howell said: “We’ve had a lot of interest from local people keen to move up the ladder and also from families outside the area in towns like Wycombe and Aylesbury. The position is superb. It’s on the outskirts of Slough in green and leafy surroundings next to green belt. It benefits from access to some excellent schools and great transport connections, too.”

The financial incentive for homebuyers at Wexham Green is open until close of play next Wednesday, October 31. The offer to pay the mortgage for six months is capped when repayments reach £10,000 but Help to Buy is also an option for those who won’t own another property when the transaction for the new place is completed.

Prices start at £495,000 for a three-bedroom design called The Beech. Property commentators believe the Chancellor may decide to limit the government-backed incentive to first time buyers in next week’s budget.

The initiative which until now has enabled second-steppers to take advantage of a five-year interest-free loan of 20 per cent and a deposit of just five per cent may not be available much longer. A five per cent deposit for a newly built three bedroom semi for £495,000 at Wexham Green works out at £24,750. The layout includes an open plan kitchen and dining room, separate living room and master bedroom with en suite bathroom.

There are two four-bedroom houses priced below the £600,000 upper limit to be eligible for the Help to Buy scheme on the Berkshire development, one is £547,500, the other is £555,000.

Both these houses are a three-storey design called Foxglove. The master suite is spread across the whole of the second floor.

There’s also a four bedroom detached house called The Elm at £659,000 with farmhouse-sized kitchen leading to the dining area – not actually open plan. There’s also a good sized drawing room.

Other than the repayment cap at £10,000, the six months mortgage-paid offer is available for buyers across the price range at Wexham. As one of the sales team pointed out: “According to Zoopla it typically takes six to ten weeks to complete the purchase of a newly built home. Could be your best Christmas present ever. Reserve a house before next Thursday and you could move in before the festivities start.”

*Barratt is offering to chip in £500 a month towards the mortgage repayment for two years on a choice of two bedroom apartments (prices from £232,995) and four bed houses (from £385,995) on the Brooklands development in Fen Street, Milton Keynes. The deal is available until next Wednesday.