The House Builders Federation this week launched a website that gives users access to 80% of new houses on the market.
The site, new-homes.co.uk, allows users to search a database of 150,000 housing units on more than 1000 new developments according to location, price and number of bedrooms.

So far 46 housebuilders have placed their properties on the site. They pay a subscription fee based on the total number of units they build, so they can put all their developments on the site at no extra cost.

An HBF spokesperson said the website was aimed at business clients, as housebuilders believed that new-build homes were particularly attractive to this group.

He said: "We're acutely aware that a lot of people buying new houses are executives relocating for career purposes, so they don't want a chain and they don't have time to do DIY at weekends."

A recent Halifax customer survey indicated that 36% of househunters would consider a newly built home and that 24% were actively looking for one.

The site, which the HBF says is simple and user-friendly, is run on a not-for-profit basis and contains no advertising.

Users are given a list of sites that match their criteria as well as links to the sections of developers' websites that describe those sites in more detail.