Are developers taking offers on new build flats in London?

[another20]

Supporting young relatives to buy their first home in London (flat zone2/3 £400k). I have always advised them not buy new build as always poor value - like buying a new car. But wondered with the downturn in the London market and BTL purchasers disappearing could they be missing a trick?

In the London market you are completely wrong about it being like a new car sorry .

Many people buy off plan and make a fortune . Also people buying in the crossrail hotspots will make money on them post it opening . Stats are suggesting a 15% increase in some areas .

A lot of new build developments get bought by international investors but the market isn’t as strong as it was .

Some plots may see some reductions and offers on paying stamp duty on behalf of the buyer etc but as first time buyers they will be able to get the gov scheme for this anyway I assume?

I have noticed, the market in general prices are slowing and have seen many properties on the market a long time and making price reductions so could be a good time if they can find a desperate seller

*sorry that was in regard to none new builds xxx

I live in SW London and regularly get emails about price reductions on fairly local newbuilds.

You may be able to negotiate a reduction, but I still think they're very often poor value when compared to,older properties of similar size. You do pay a premium for a newbuild.

The other thing to take into a/c is that service/maintenance charges on newbuilds can be terribly expensive, and only likely to rise.

When my dd was looking to buy in SW London, I saw one bed newbuilds of around 45 sq m for the same price as Edwardian 2 bed maisonettes of nearly 70 sq m. And there were very low, or virtually no charges on the older properties, too.

Service charge is a very fair point - we have an appartment ( 4 years old we didn’t buy it new new ) and we pay £2500 a year service charge but we have an awesome very secure building with gym / lots of facilities and parking in London . We also have a BTL period apartment property and only have to pay peppercorn GR and no service charges but alas no facilities hence why we don’t live there .

Older properties however can come with significant issues and costs which I’ve all too sadly been made aware of !!

Thanks - yes the SC would be a big issue. I looked at a flat earlier in the year - parking / no gym and SC was £6500/yr!!! Also important that this is likely to rise. Bit of research tells me that new builds are on average 30% premium on same size older property. Was interested to know if this gap was closing. Also other piece of research stated that over the long term period properties appreciated better - I suppose because a Georgian will become more rare or always be a Georgian whereas a new build selling on can be dated to the decade and some have finishes that don’t weather well.

Would just point out that newbuilds can come with issues, too.
A dd once had a temp job with a very upmarket London EA, which was handling lettings of expensive newbuild flats.

Several times she had irate tenants screaming down the phone about e.g. shit coming out of the shower.
That particular builder is still whacking up newbuild blocks in London. I wouldn't touch one of theirs with a ten foot bogbrush.

New builds are all thrown together I know . We bought one because of the unrivaled growth we will see in this property because of crossrail compared to other properties and the location .

Friend is an engineer on a well known developers resi property site and they have so many issues with them .

I can see why you're looking at a profit if you bought in a crossrail area, RandH, but other London areas don't have that benefit and a lot of newbuild prices are definitely going down. Perhaps not surprising when prices even of old-builds in non crossrail, non fashionable areas have just about doubled since about 2009. IMO a correction has long been overdue.

In the big house price crash of 20 years ago or so, new builds plummeted in price, more so than any other housing type and took much longer to recover.