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

[itscominghomeee]

I am mid-twenties and single. I have worked hard to save up a deposit to buy a house and now have enough of a deposit, and a not-huge-but-reasonable salary in my first managerial post, to make offers on houses. None of my similarly aged friends are at the stage of buying a house yet. I am looking at typical first time buyer houses: terraces or even some semi-detached, but my mum and her sister have commented a couple of times that it's a shame that I can't buy a new build.

I went yesterday to see a house with my mum and the current owner has refurbished downstairs and put a new kitchen in and installed a downstairs toilet within the last two years. Upstairs is in good condition too, but my mum said afterwards, "from downstairs you almost think it's new, but when you go upstairs you remember that it's a very old house".

My mum also told me yesterday that her sister had said to her again recently, "couldn't itscominghomeee get a new build? There are lots of new builds being built in that area".

AIBU to feel upset by these comments? Of course a new build would be lovely, but it's unrealistic for the vast majority of people in my age bracket and stage of career, especially those who are single. The comments feel like they're undermining my hard work saving up and like my mum/aunt are saying that the houses I can afford aren't good enough.

i work in mortgages, new builds at purchase are more expensive, they are deliberately priced that way

New builds also offer dozens of schemes to try and entice people to buy them. Old houses don't need this because people know they're getting a good sized house that's well built and isn't on a tiny plot surrounded by dozens of others overlooking them.

I'd love to see how many basic £500,000+ 3 bed new builds are about. A new build being more expensive at purchase doesn't mean they are more expensive than older houses, it just means they're worse value. I'm sure there is a reason they're normally listed as a "great starter/first home".

Selling houses and building houses are two very different things. Any builder worth their salt knows new houses aren't built as well.

But that’s expensive at build and you didn’t specify you meant expensive to build rather than buy.

how many 3 beds are 500k up and down the country anyway? It’s location dependent, silly comment. I’ve seen 3 bed detached be priced at £600k but I’ve also seen £250k, it depends on the location

You are completely ignoring the new build premium though. It's not that it's lost value. It's that the type of property has now changed.

If you bought a new build for 350, the likelihood of it being 350 when valued for mortgage purposes a year or so later is very low, because it's not longer "new". People aren't willing to pay the same for something that isn't going to be only theirs, someone else had it first.

Where I grew up, the average house price is around 200k. But new builds round the corner are marketed at 320k. People pay that because they're new. But if its a second hand "new build" for 320k or the same size house two minutes away for ~100k less, which do you think people are going for?

Hence the haircuts.

This doesn’t tally to my experience personally or professionally

my house was 300k and then 5 years later was 380k (mortgage val 370k) and houses have sold for 390k because people are willing to pay.

are you saying a lender takes 100k of the val? No way. How would the duty allow that?

its different priorities for customers, some want new, or prefer some want older. They fly off the market around me. It’s a nuance in the target market

I'm not saying they take 100k off the Val. I'm saying if a buyer has the option of two similar sized houses in the same location where the difference in price is that big, they aren't paying the difference just because one was recently a new build.

I'm not responding anymore, as it feels like you're either deliberately misunderstanding me, or not reading what I say and forming the wrong interpretation because of it.

Cheap starter homes, really?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/150474863

I'm not particularly in love with new build estates but the build quality does vary, with some being absolutely fine as mine was. They serve their purpose very well for many people.

Same. Ours is 100 years old and solid.
I would not touch a new build with somebody else's shitty stick.

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.

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

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.

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

Old ex council house owner here and love it !

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.

Most new builds are 🤮

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.

True.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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