House prices - new development

[smythspamper]

A new development is being built opposite my 12 year old home. I'm in a similar but smaller development. Prices have been released and for a similar sized property they are 25% (~£75K) more than we think our home is worth.
Will this have a positive effect on the value of my home? The reason I'm asking is that we have been thinking of having some work done - moving and upgrading kitchen, partial garage conversion, maybe upgrade bathrooms but we're reluctant as we didn't think it would add value similar to the cost of work. If values rise, I could be persuaded to go ahead.
Anyone have experience of this?

I personally don’t think it’ll add value to your home - more decrease it

There are similar developments in my city, some newer than others. The newest that are being built now are v v expensive whereas the older new ones are struggling to sell

It of course also depends on the area etc

There will always be a premium for a new built. Even if you do your improvements, the house price is unlikely to be anywhere near the new build so you'd need to be careful not to overspend.

We have lots of new developments near us and we decided to sell our 14 year old house to move into a larger new one. We tried to sell it 2 years ago for £250,000 but we backed out. We have just sold it for £300,000. I didn't think it was worth this much as we haven't done anything to it but our agents said because the new builds are more expensive then it's increased the value of the surrounding houses.

Round here it's the same as MyBaby. The high prices of the new builds have meant that prices have gone up all over town. Especially those in better locations.

I guess it maybe the market going up as well but 18 months ago a normal 3 bed semi would go on the market for 250. Along came similar size new builds for 350. Now the older 3 beds are worth 320. There is still very much a shortage of properties round here which might have something to do with it.

It really depends. There will be a premium for new builds, so if your house is exactly the same size then no, your house wont be the same price. Infact having building work in the area, or building on what was previously a nice view from your house, may decrease the desireability of your house. Also depends how many of your type of house and in your estate are on the market.

Alternatively, older houses in the area (which tend to be more varied in appearance etc) will probably be bigger, have more space around them, maybe a garage etc etc. So they may well benefit from a price increase due to the new builds being so much more expensive.

Some people will pay the developer's premium for being able to choose kitchen and bathroom etc (if they are at that stage), some will pay a premium for being the first ever to live in a property. There is also the incentives that the big developers use: stamp duty paid, part exchange, fixtures and fittings upgrades etc.

Houses from the first phases (like yours) don't have those things and are often starting to show their age at 10-15 years old, requiring cosmetic attention - carpets, kitchen, bathroom updates. Everything seems to need replacing at once in new houses (because it was all put in at the same time, whereas older houses have been upgraded over time, so things seem to go in phases). Buyers factor that in when viewing 'nearly new' properties.

However, as sunny says, new houses and their plots are getting smaller and smaller, so it may be that you are offering more space on a better plot for the same money. The local big Lego estate to me has houses from the 1980's to the 2000's. The first phase are noticeably more spacious (but uglier) than the last but there is a 25yr gap between the phases. It might be that 12yrs isn't long enough for the difference in plot size and internal space to be significant, in your area.

Thanks all! I wasn't expecting my home to magically be valued at the same as the new builds but it would be amazing if it rose even £20-30K. I'll wait and see if any neighbours sell in the next year or so - we're still saving for the remodelling work anyway.

What was on the land before the new builds were there? Our new builds were built on the site of a hospital. The surrounding area has gone up because people would rather live near new houses than a hospital. Despite everyone saying you lose money on new builds, we have sold ours for 25% more than we bought it for four years ago despite doing nothing to it. We have been very lucky.