Determined housebuilders are so intent on finding buyers that one is turning lender to offer customers a 100 per cent mortgage. These controversial home loans helped to ramp up prices during the boom years, but have almost disappeared in the slowdown as wary banks and building societies have shunned cash-strapped aspiring homeowners. Mortgage experts predicted that they would never return, shutting many first-time buyers out of the market.

Now Places for People - a leading housing association and developer - is reaching into its own pockets to offer a 100 per cent mortgage to buyers at its Wolverton Park scheme, near Milton Keynes. It is also throwing in an interest-free loan of up to 30 per cent of the value of the home and a three-year buy-back guarantee to seal the deal.

Wolverton Park is the redevelopment of an historic railway works three miles from Milton Keynes and an easy commute from London (Knight Frank, 01908 319748). The historic conversion of the Grade II listed former shed for the Royal Train and other buildings is set in ten acres alongside the Grand Union Canal and, when it was launched a year ago, 500 aspiring buyers queued for only 300 apartments and townhouses, yet properties remain unsold because of the mortgage drought.

Other developers, determined to boost the pool of buyers, are taking their cue from eye-catching deals on the high street and are offering incentives such as free cars, free council tax or stamp duty, and “try before you buy” schemes. Barratt is offering Army, Navy and RAF personnel a 2 per cent discount - worth £3,000 on a £150,000 home.

Fairview New Homes, another developer, is hoping to woo divorced or separated parents by paying a prospective buyer's child maintenance costs for the first year. Fairview's marketing tactic is understood to be the first time that a builder has targeted divorced or separated couples who have children, though the deal comes with a limit of £1,500 or 5 per cent of the purchase price, preventing higher-income earners from taking advantage. A parent on a salary of £25,000 who is not in receipt of other benefits or income support would pay £72 a week in child maintenance for one child, according to the Child Support Agency, thus reaching the £1,500 limit in only five months.

The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the divorce rate in England and Wales fell to its lowest level since 1983 this year. Although fewer people may be marrying, divorce lawyers have attributed the recent decline to the recession. They say that couples are choosing to stay together rather than bear the costs of a split or risk being left without a deposit by falling house prices. This could also work in Fairview's favour, as couples see the incentive as a way to reduce the cost of separation.

Critics of incentive schemes argue that they are a false economy, with any cost to the builder built in to the asking price. Jon Neale, head of development research at Knight Frank, said: “There are lots of generous incentives but the Fairview offer is the most unusual I have heard. However, buyers should remember that this is only a sweetener and is minor compared with the cost of a property. It is not a reason in itself to buy.”

These offerings coincide with fresh optimism among builders that a period of perilously slow sales has ended. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has reported a rise in new buyer registrations, and monthly house price rises on some indices indicate that the worst of the price falls may be over.

Rebecca O'Connor reports how one separated parent found a home:

Gary Fox understands the financial implications of separation. He split up with his partner a year ago, but they had to stay in the same house in Crawley, West Sussex, because they could not find a buyer in the depressed market.

The 53-year-old Tesco employee is now looking forward to moving into his new two-bedroom, £170,000 Fairview flat at the end of this month, after the developer offered to pay his legal fees and throw in a parking space. The extra money helped Fox to buy a flat with two bedrooms, so his seven-year-old daughter, Melissa, can stay.

“There are lots of incentives for first-time buyers but not any aimed at people like me who are starting over,” he says. “I have spoken to a lot of other fathers who have no choice but to rent because they can't afford to buy. I wasn't eligible for the new scheme so it was really helpful that Fairview covered my legal fees. It enabled me to afford somewhere big enough so that Melissa can stay.”

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