"It's a shame you can't get a new build"

Absolutely this!

Please avoid a new build....

I live in a new build, I love it. Not all developers and builders are rubbish. We have had very few snagging issues, we are on a lovely party of the estate and a good size garden. Not what you are asking I know, but people are wrong to say all new builds are awful

We had a family member very snooty about how they were buying a new build and we weren't when we were in the process of buying this house. We had a group of friends round and they turned up (we had asked them not to) and wanted to do a presentation of their new house and how to achieve a great offer on a new build (they'd got about 5% off at a point the market was slow so not exactly brilliant!).

I will just say that we're still in the same house 15 years later and they moved to a not-new build within two years accepting a much lower price than they paid...

It’s irrelevant what your mum thinks at this stage. This is YOUR LIFE.

You’re in your mid-20’s. This is when you need to start being properly independent and relying less on your parents for help and advice.

Stop discussing your finances with them and don’t ask for their advice unless you really want it.

I have 2 grown up kids plus grandkids and I stopped offering parental advice to my two once they’d left for University.

Maybe your mum is struggling with you being all grown up and moving out so she’s still trying to influence your choices as if you’re still a child. It is a real struggle for some parents to let go and leave you to live your own life, but you have to stop involving them in your decision making. Feel confident in your abilities and remind your mum that you’re able to go it alone because she’s done such a good job in bringing you up.

I have no idea why people would actively choose a new build over other types of houses.

I live in a new build. Trust me, it ain’t all that. My garden is pokey and the build quality is shit.

wouldn’t buy another one, much prefer an older house.

Your mum and your sister are absolute idiots if they think a new build is preferable to a solid, well built house. New builds are thrown up in a matter of days, they're plastered and 'finished' before teh foundations have had time to settle and this results in a lot of problems. Thats before you even consider the corner cutting that goes on, and the fact that often the land being built on really shouldn't have been becasue its a flood plain or where water has soaked away for thousands of years and now cannot because its covered in tarmac and concrete...

Solid, well built, older properties (pre 1960 for me!) are the way to go. Yes they may be tatty and they may need stuff doing but its do-able, whereas newbuilds are frequently a nightmare of ongoing problems, that the build company wash their hands of the minute you're in!

Do you mean htb Not hsbc?

"New builds are fine if that’s all you can afford."

It's interesting that you say this. Where I live, there are quite a lot of new homes being built, there are something like 20 different building sites within a 5 mile radius.

But, on a square metre basis (or square foot if you prefer) new build homes are definitely more expensive than existing homes. They can easily be 50% or even 100% more expensive than existing ex-council house homes (or rather, given the history of the city, they are mostly ex Development Corporation homes)

It's buquet!

New builds are a poor deal. Like new cars they depreciate as soon as they are sold for the first time. If I wanted a newer house I would buy one where I was the second owner. You can see the problems, work out if they’ve been sorted, and you don’t get the depreciation.

we have an older house which is the only house we’ve owned, and it does have its problems which need quite a bit of upkeep. But I love it.

I live in a property hotspot city and the new builds (typically apartment blocks) are all marketed as "luxury".

Five years later they're usually a money pit of things going wrong.

Developers are ruthless - buy an older, more established property and educate your family!

New builds aren't lovely. They're squeezed into very small plots, the rooms are much smaller than houses built in the 60s and 70s, for example, they are crammed in on each other so they're overlooked and almost all are just generic boxes without character. Many of them have paper-thin walls so you feel as if you're living with the neighbours, too.

But the biggest problem with buying a new build is that it's like buying a brand new car. The moment you move in/ drive the car off the dealer's forecourt they're worth less than you paid for them. My niece and her boyfriend bought a new build in London in 2021 and when they split up recently and had it valued with a view to selling it they discovered that it's worth £40k less than they paid for it.

Every. Single. One.

Ever looked behind kitchen cabinets? 🤢

I wouldn't touch a new build with a barge pole.
Ignore your family - they are talking crap. You will be far better off with an older house.

New builds can be problematic. I wouldn’t touch one with a barge pole.

New build estates are usually so densely packed with virtually no outside space and little storage and small rooms on the inside. I’d take a Victorian terrace any day. Just ignore them or tell them you prefer older houses anyway. I love all the character in our house, someone I know loves her new build and raves about the smooth straight walls 😂 each to their own!

Build quality of new builds is shite. "Why would I want a new build, cheaply made and full of problems, I want a proper house that someone else has already made right."

Where I live the first-time buyer sized new builds from 5-10 years ago tend to come on the market pretty regularly as their owners need to size up. Although they're marketed as 2 bedrooms the second bedroom is barely bigger than a cupboard, you can just about squeeze one child in there but you couldn't really have 2 sharing. The kitchens are usually in the living room - I'm sure the builders described it as open plan but they're small living rooms with kitchen units at one end. They're very expensive for the amount of space they provide and they sit on Rightmove for ages and ages.

You pay more for having something shiny and new but then the next person doesn't want to pay that much because it's not shiny and new to them - it's like buying a brand new car, except with a house you can't then sell it back to the dealership.

Strange, because if someone I knew was buying a new build I'd think, "Shame you couldn't get an old house!" (I wouldn't say it though - their choice, their business.)

New builds are shit. Poorly made, no foundations, paper thin walls, no garden, over looked, leaseholds often, worthless guarantee, I wouldn't buy one. A new build at the end of my road had to be totally rewired as it was dangerous. The phonelines were never connected, plaster issues... and that cost 2.4 million, imagine what the shitty littles ones are like!

A bespoke new build as a one off? Lovely.

A new build estate? No. Little boxes built cheaply. I am a construction professional and I would be so wary of them unless you had an expert involved. I have seen some quite shocking practices in the name of meeting deadlines and saving money.

I wouldn’t go anywhere near a new build!

Another one saying a big fat no to living in a new build. I have a Victorian terrace and it’s so beautiful. So much character! You Mum and sister have no taste.

Hate new builds, they are like cardboard boxes inside no character
Family who have bought have put in lots of work to give them character

Not to mention all the noise, they're not built with proper Yorkshire stone

Don't listen to them!