FIRST-TIME buyers and couples frustrated by sky-high house prices are being targeted with new mini-apartments by Barratt Homes.

The “Barratt iPad” is just 380 sq ft — 25 per cent smaller than an average 500 sq ft one-bedroom flat, but larger than a studio apartment.

The one-bedroom version, which includes a small lounge, dining area, fully fitted kitchen, double bedroom, fully fitted bathroom and balcony, will sell for between £80,000 and £120,000. This is below the new £125,000 threshold at which buyers must pay stamp duty.

Barratt has spent 18 months developing the concept and has already pre-sold its first 30 iPad homes in Middlesbrough.

A further 170 iPads are being built on six sites in areas including Sheffield and Hull, while another 1,600 are in the pipeline for locations including Leeds, Slough, Reading, Swansea, Kent and the Isle of Wight.

David Pretty, chief executive of Barratt, said that the starter homes would provide a great “crash pad” for first-time buyers as well as older single people or couples.

More than 20 years ago Barratt launched the Studio Solo brand — studio apartments of just 280 sq ft to 300 sq ft, but Mr Pretty insisted that the new iPads are bigger and better and suitable for couples as well as single occupiers.

“We think these apartments are the optimum size. We didn’t want to sacrifice liveability,” he said.

Barratt hopes to increase production of the iPads in future to at least 1,000 a year, generating about £100 million in revenue at an average selling price of £100,000.

Mr Pretty claimed that the iPad name was not a play on the connection with iPod music players and insisted that it had been legally checked and registered.

Redrow, Barratt’s smaller rival, recently launched the Debut range aimed at first-time buyers, some of which sell for as little as £60,000.

Barratt said it had already secured 90 per cent of its full-year homes target after agreeing £910 million of advance sales, its second-highest figure on record for this time of year. Mr Pretty said that improvements in market conditions seen last autumn had continued into the new year.

“We have had our best sales period for nine months, but the market is not racing away. It is just becoming more stable,” he said. House prices would rise by about 3 per cent in the next 12 months, he predicted.

Overall, the company said that it was on track to deliver a fourteenth consecutive year of growth, after revenues edged up 2 per cent to £1.17 billion and underlying pre-tax profits rose by 4 per cent from £157.1 million to £163.9 million in the half-year to December 31.

Thinking outside the box

Once condemned for building box-like houses, Barratt now offers ingeniously planned and stylish apartments at affordable prices (Marcus Binney writes).

The iPads are variants of student housing but make good use of limited space with sleek modern fittings in kitchens and bathrooms. Good proportions are the key to attractive living space and the iPads largely avoid the cramped feeling that could easily come with only 380 sq ft of floor space.

The kitchen is equipped to entertain, not just survive, but the second L-shaped bedroom in the two-bed apartment is an awkward shape.

The blocks with the beehive roofs and porthole windows are best — fun, funky and colourful.

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