First time buyers are camping outside former Army homes to be first in line when they go on sale later this week.

Some of the campers have been on the site for nearly two weeks hoping to snap up the three and four-bedroom homes on a first come, first served basis for around £125,000 each. All the homes have garages, double glazing and gas central heating.

Some campers have even pitched tents in the gardens of the homes.

The homes will go on sale on Friday morning and the seller, Annington Homes, is expecting all ten properties in Annington Reach, in the Lower Wick part of Worcester, to sell as soon as they are put on the market.

Annington Homes became one of the largest private owners of residential property in the United Kingdom following its purchase of more than 57,000 homes from the Ministry of Defence in November 1996. Mostly the homes are let back to the MoD, but some 600 nor 700 are released for private sale every year.

As of this morning, nine campers were ‘staking out their claims’ by camping in tents and even a caravan. Some of the hopefuls were upset by having to camp out to buy a home. Mark Bailey, who has been outside the homes since Saturday said, “We're not asking for hand-outs, we just want a house that we can afford. It's absolutely stupid that we've had to resort to these desperate measures."

But the Annington Homes says this method of selling homes was the fairest for first time buyers as it avoids the gazumping that would otherwise happen in an open market.