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

My last home was a new build and I couldn’t wait to move to an older house with more living space downstairs and a traditional layout. Am very happy with my ‘new’ home, built in 1970. But I also love a 1930s semi, amazing room sizes in lots of them, and though I would be cautious about damp etc, I love a Victorian property.

How odd as I've had the very opposite of comments given to me by my family when I was looking. When my brother and sister in law bought a new build more recently quite a few people were concerned (no space, no privacy, no storage, flimsy builds etc) They have had multiple problems since with flooding and plumbing.
I find people a bit snobby about new builds 🤷‍♀️

I would never live in a new build house. How utterly gross.
I hate them and their locations are always dreadful too, silos on the edge of towns where no one has bothered to build houses in the past because it's shite locality

FFS I was using the car analogy in terms of buying something that's new and shoddy versus something older and more reliable.

At no point was I referring to them being an appreciating or depreciating asset.

New builds aren't built well, have no character, usually in large estates with not enough parking. Small gardens that are overlooked by lots of close neighbours.

No thanks.

To me, the only people new builds make real sense for are people who use help to buy/shared ownership type schemes

There are other reasons. We bought ours in 2011 because we were desperate to move and the market in our area was still dead post credit crunch. The developer was offering quite decent prices on part exchange.
We went from miserable to happy in a comfortable detached house.
Yes new build estates aren't the most exciting looking bet certainly not as hideous as 1930s pebble dashed semis or those ugly blocky 60s/70s houses.

Terrible analogy. Cars are unequivocally depreciating assets. Property is not

🙄 comparing a car purchase to a house purchase. If you must though, consider that the purpose of the car is to get you to your destination, whether you paid £5k or £50k for it... real friends and family actually don’t care what your car is worth or how it looks

Have to laugh at some of the comments on here and even the 🤮 emoji being used to describe a new build. What privilege some have in their owned (and probably paid off) ivory towers. If you’re lucky enough to even be in the position as OP@itscominghomeee is then buy what suits your life stage and lifestyle, who cares what anyone else thinks, it’s your home.

Buying some new build houses over an older house is akin to buying a brand new Fiat 500 over a 5 year old Toyota.

Toyota = reliable, sturdy, will last you for years
Fiat 500 = Fix It Again Tomorrow

I bought a house last year as a first time buyer, I didn't look at new builds, for a few reasons:

1. The new builds in my area seem to have been built in not the best locations, e.g. with difficult access. It's like developers are building on any bit of land they can without much thought as to how you actually get there- e.g. one set of new builds in a nearby town shares access with a sixth form college! That could be a nightmare.

2. I have heard horror stories about shoddy build quality etc, and difficulties with the "snagging" process.

3. Related to the above, you are the one who will discover if there are major problems with the house/estate as no-one has lived there before.

4. I think you get less for your money with a new build, compared to an older house of the same price. Others have mentioned small rooms/footprints etc, but also there is just a premium for being "new".

5. Related to the above, new builds seem to lose a lot of value in (roughly) the first 5 years, then start to recover. I may well want to move in the next 5 years, and so a house that is likely to at least hold its value was important to me.

To me, the only people new builds make real sense for are people who use help to buy/shared ownership type schemes (which I would 100% avoid if you can) and people looking for a forever home that can be adapted to their spec.

No, but it will not have the features that a traditional older house has, and will have lot of the faults that new methods of construction cause e.g. water stains down the exterior walls because overhanging lintels etc, have been assumed, since the 20s, to be 'purely ornamental', with no function, and therefore were unfit for modern buildings. Minimalism - removing 'unnecessary ornamentation - is why modern buildings do not wear well. The 'unnecessary ornamentation' was functional but functionality was wrapped in ornament.

I looked at new builds when I was moving last year. The rooms were so much smaller and the gardens tiny. They try and squeeze as many houses as possible onto the development to make as much money as possible. I went into the garden of one house and I must have been overlooked by about 10 other houses it was like stepping out onto a stage. I ended up getting a 1970s end terrace which I love. Two decent sized bedrooms for myself and my son and a smaller bed 3 for my office. The garden is a lovely size too and not really overlooked.

Why would you want a slung up new build. Poorly built, no drive, no garden. Obsession with being green to the point where most have inefficient heat pumps. No room inside to swing a car. Tell your mother to get lost. Enjoy your new house.

This is very true where I live too. Very few detached properties and those that are are 650k plus, so if you’re set on that then buying a small detached new build for £350k seems like a good deal! Personally I much prefer my large, solid semi detached but I think many people prefer a smaller house with less land and more bedrooms for half the price you’d pay for a period property

it's the flimsy plasterboard walls that I can't stand.

It's interesting to see people's reactions to new builds. Most of us live in fairly ordinary houses whenever they were built. From the time when houses have been built affordably enough for ordinary people to buy or rent, there have been naysayers. Back in the fifties, my grandparents moved from a large, rambling house in the north of England to a bogstandard thirties semi on the outskirts of Birmingham. The first house had gas lighting downstairs and candles upstairs and baths were taken in front of the fire. The second house, which was less than twenty years old when my grandparents bought it - and there was a lot of snobbery when that style of house was built - was much smaller but had all the mod cons of the day in the form of gas, electricity, running water and an indoor bathroom. In the sixties and seventies, pedople were as snobbish about the new build houses as they are about today's houses. The main criticisms were that they had a tendency to be boxy. However, they had all the mod cons of the day and were very comfortable to live in as I, and millions of others who lived in such houses, can testify. It was also the Brave New World and our parents had grown up in the drab postwar era. They wanted something new and modern, in the same way that many people do today. @Another2Cats gave examples of three different styles of houses. In my opinion, the 250 year old house was as bland as the new build as it had been modernised without sympathy to the original features and the front was characterless, too.

True.

I have an ex council house but didn't pay a premium to have my neighbours overlooking me...

Because it depends what’s available with the housing stock in the location where you want to live, where I live there are very few 1930’s detached houses, the housing stock is rather bland so when a builder develops houses in a heritage style which is a desirable look to many and also has the expected features of modern day living they are very appealing to some buyers, HTH.

Most new builds are 🤮

The snobbery on here regarding new builds is unbelievable! Many, many people buy new build homes every year, there must be a demand or the supply would dry up. This suggests that people are in fact happy to live in new build houses, and those that 'wouldn't live in one if you paid me too' either have enough money to choose a different option, or can't afford a new build so justify their choices by bringing others down for theirs.

We live in a (not so) new build. It is bigger than the older properties we could afford at the time, the area has a lovely community feel, a great school, is safe (as much as anywhere is), and is perfect for our lifestyle. DS' friends all live nearby so they can easily play together whenever they want, we've made plenty of friends as everyone is more or less at the same stage of life with similar incomes and lifestyles, as a result we all have a great support network. That might sound like some people's idea of hell, but when you live a long way from family, and work long hours in a stressful job, it's great to have friends nearby you can rely on.
Both of us grew up in the countryside miles from anywhere with crap public transport. Our home and surroundings were lovely, but there was literally nothing particularly for teenagers to do. My mum was our taxi driver for much of the time. I remember this if we ever consider moving out of town to somewhere 'nicer', and I couldn't do it to DS.
As for then decreasing in value, not in our experience. But I guess it depends on the location.

OP, buy what you want, thag suits your lifestyle, don't let anyone else tell you what that is.

Old ex council house owner here and love it !

Yes in the sense of the artificial increase but the cost is what people are willing to pay, and due to the market people are willing to pay but I do agree that an older home has a different level of construction and typically a larger plot of land.

the market is dysfunctional due to the housing shortage and such poor quality stock the only way this is fixed is through building more houses and local authorities basically claiming vacant older properties

Being expensive doesn't mean it's actually worth the money, it means that house builders have a grip on the market and can essentially charge a lot more for a new build than its actually worth.

My point is the higher selling price for new builds is an artificial increase and on average older houses are more expensive.

No, like I’m saying what you’re saying doesn’t correlate to my experience personally and professionally.

I live in a new build in a very small estate. As others have said the bills are minimal. We have Air source heating which is half the price of gas. Everything has a warranty. No worrying about old boilers etc (my last rented house was ancient and the boiler leaked for months before it got condemned!) Maybe we are lucky but we have had zero problems.
I think from a parents point of view they may be thinking a new build is just the easiest and safest option. There's nothing to do and everything is shiny and new. It may be worth having a look at one. I looked at a few. Some were tiny and massively overlooked. But the one we found is in a great spot for us.