I want to buy a new house but they are made of cardboard apparently...

[skittleboy]

I like the look of new houses and I want a nice fresh new house to live it. Like buying a brand new car that is fresh and noone else has used.

But everyone says 'they are not built to last, don't go near one with a barge pole'. It's so wrong that the builders are allowed to get away with it! They should build it properly! I grew up in a 600 year old house that is still standing strong. But I dislike old houses.

I can't build my own because I don't have the expertise.

Is there anything else I can do?

Thank you.

I'm in my 3rd new build house and have loved all three. (Moved for work).

Sure some are better quality than others - like everything.

I don't want the hassle of diy, re-wiring, replacing boilers/ central heating/kitchen/bathroom etc and all the other work that comes with an older house.

If we moved again I'd only consider new build.

Totally agree that there is a lot of misplaced snobbery around new build houses.

I think a lot of them are very attractive to live in. I think the thing that would prevent me considering one would be if it drove me to depend on a car more.

www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45956792

Those of you who love new builds and say you’d always choose them, do you mean you want totally brand new or that you want very modern (but perhaps a few years old)

Just interested in this. I’d have thought houses a few years old have the benefits of needing little work but without the price premium for being brand new, plus avoid the issues on big estates of lots more building work.

And I’m interested in this thing about avoiding spending money on maintenance. Is that because you would struggle to afford the £4K for a boiler or whatever it is? Surely the new house premium is more than this?
Again makes me think of the arguments for buying lease cars which over time cost much more - no need for maintenance costs - but overall you pay more for avoiding that.

Do you think people buying new builds on big estates have less money behind them and worry more about ongoing costs, so prefer to pay more on credit over the long term (bigger mortgage, higher mortgage rate for help to buy) to avoid unexpected one-off costs? Just wondering if new builds on the larger estates appeal more to people with a particular financial set-up. And do those purchases then make it harder to move onto the next stage, compared to if people had bought non-totally new build?
Just an idle thought.

It's the tiny plots, tiny drives and crap road systems that puts me off!

Mmm. Yes, houses aside, does anyone prefer being on a new build estate to a conventional street?

Is the choice about preferring the estate location too - I always thought location was very important to people too.

There are several new estates around our town. In one of them people are already resorting to parking half on the pavement because they have been built with one and a half parking spaces per house. Ludicrous as most people here have to travel to work, public transport being quite poor.
So regardless of the quality of the houses I would not want to buy there.

I think there are wildly different estates as well. The one I live in is 10 mins from the city centre and a 5 minute walk to shops and restaurants.

Maybe HTB in England is different, but in Scotland there is no such thing as a HTB house or estate. There are just houses and estates...the price is the same no matter how you pay for it. I didnt use it, and I wouldn't have unless it was the only way I could buy a house.

I would buy a secondhand new build if I liked the kitchen choices etc.

The reason I think they are cheaper to maintain is because the roof, windows, boiler and central heating are brand new and under warranty. Consequently, I don't expect any big bills in the next 10 years. If I bought a second hand house I would have no idea what I might need to repair, so would feel like I needed to keep a lot of money aside just incase. And obviously I might need to redecorate a lot.

@Wombatchocolate - I chose a new build because I'm done with renovating. There was always something to do and we never finished anything. We are a busy family and wanted a home that we can relax in that isn't a project in itself.

For us the practicality of new builds really appealed to us. The rooms are spacious and have built with families in mind whereas our Victorian property was built in a very different era with some dodgy extensions added over the years. The parking situation is a plus every house on our development has 2 parking spaces which is a joy after living in an area with predominately Victorian properties.

The garden is on the smaller side but still bigger than we had with our previous property.

We are in a village so are more reliant on cars now buts that's the downside of moving to a village it's nothing to do with living in a new build.

Just interested in this. I’d have thought houses a few years old have the benefits of needing little work but without the price premium for being brand new, plus avoid the issues on big estates of lots more building

This is my thought too. We did this - our house was seven years old when we bought it. All the snagging had been sorted, there were no building works anywhere, etc. It was just a normal house, but in very good condition still (and with three years left on the guarantee). I'm not sure I would buy off plan new and certainly not in an estate under construction. But newish has suited us.

Surprised at the tiny driveway comments - ours fits four cars (including our SUV!). But we also have big rooms, which is against the new build code as well apparently I have seen some very pokey ones, but then my friend lives in an old property and has not only small but awkwardly shaped rooms so there's no telling, really.

One of children is buying a two year old house. Same price as similar properties but with everything practically new. Solar panels, lovely fittings downstairs loo etc. Only thing needed is work on the garden. Seems a no brainier for a starter home

We lived in a long one way street previously in a large Victorian house but there was no off street parking, lots of houses of multiple occupation , buy to let's etc.
Living on an estate is much nicer, parking is so much better. We have a double drive and garage. There's lots of general parking available for anyone to use.
Its safer for my kids as theres lots of bendy roads to slow the traffic down.
It feels nicer, people say hello to each other in the street, its much better for us with kids but I don't think I'd move here if older with no kids.

As I said in my earlier post check how big it actually is, in sqft. Below 1500sqft is very small for a four bed. Also check if it is leasehold

Some people are very anti new build. I moved from an old house where I could hear my neighbours TV, everything they did through the walls. Now I live next to another family with a little girl and I don't hear a peep from them! Even when they ask me if we heard their DDs tantrum we don't.

Our snagging was fine, we had an issue with worktop and it was replaced quickly. Garden isn't huge but we didn't want a massive garden, it's just right for us.

Agree with you catty the old Victorian housing stock where I live is in narrow streets crowded out with cars and many have been converted to HMO’s they really are not desirable places to live at all.

Builders rubble? What do you mean? Do they bury it under the garden or something?

My last house was an 18mth old new build. Our house and the neighbours were the last two built as it was where the site office was. The garden was a mess (thankfully turfed and bordered by the previous owners) but we would still find the odd half brick it we dug deep enough, broken pottery, screws, and lots and lots of dolomite. I think ours was just where stuff had been tipped.

I guess it depends on the builder and the site. We did look at new builds when we moved but for us the issues were the overall size - one 4 bed had a smaller footprint than our 3 bed, fair enough there was more space downstairs as the garage was detached rather than integral, but then there was 4 bedrooms in less space than our 3, and neither the bathroom or the en-suite had a window. I know there were other designs available, but it is always something to consider. The room layouts were not what worked for us a family - modern living is a large kitchen diner and then lounge, I wanted more rooms - yes you can get this but at a higher price. Many of the new build estates near by are going up very close to main dual carriageways (when I say close, the garden fences of some literally border onto the road.

We now live in a 1960's house, at first we were looking at the 20/25 old builds in the same area that we lived in, but then I found our current house.

I guess it depends on what you want in a house and what your budget allows, we have a lot more of everything in my older house than the new builds we looked at, even if none of the radiators match, but this was a heart buy rather than a head.

H2B is a financial product not a build quality mark. When you apply for a H2B equity loan you can choose whichever house under £250,000 (outside London) and £400,000 (in London) is on the site that has a H2B allocation. The allocations are forecast at the beginning of the year based on the developer's forecast of the number of units on a specified number of sites in a Local Authority area eg the allocation may be for 20 units on 3 sites in Hampshire. It is not based on plot number on a specified site. The quality cannot be predetermined as the developer will not know when they are starting the build which sites are going to have someone walk into which sales office with not quite enough money to purchase which plot.

Our house was built in 1989 and we find bricks and rubble in the garden. Our previous house (built 1982) did not have this problem. Both were built by small builders.

We live in a house built in 2006. It’s on what you’d class as a new build estate. But obviously not super new. It’s three story & not remotely boxy. We have a large kitchen/diner, dining room & large lounge -we have two huge DFS sofas, the biggest they did & still loadsa room. We also have 3 double bedrooms (albeit one is on the middle floor). The bathroom & en-suite are small. To me, not important. It’s less to clean 😁 The garden isn’t huge but it’s completely south facing, square, happily fits a 6 seater table & bbq on the patio & a decent bit of grass for out toddler to bomb around on! Easy to maintain, don’t really have an interest in gardening.

The house itself has cost little money, it came with everything included like white goods in the kitchen and the carpets were recently replaced. All 3 bedrooms have built in wardrobes. However, it is badly built .. the odd problem we’ve had and the workmen have seriously rolled their eyes! Things like the toilet is so close to the bath, there’s nowhere for your right leg to go. Yet there’s a big gap between the toilet & the sink on the other side.. the floorboards squeak like hell. The pipe work in the en-suite tries to force water up a pipe & backdown. Which caused a leak. They didn’t put insulation in the section of wall where my daughters built in wardrobe is so you open her wardrobe and get a huge blast of cold air!

We are thinking of moving but mostly as I’m a bit sick of living on 3 floors. I’d happily go into another new build but just one with either a better layout over 3 floors or a regular two story!

small and cramped, can't take normal sized furniture. gardens full of rubble.
Cracks appearing in first year, not being able to decorate, stepford looking, all the bloody same.
The worst bit having to be managed by the property company.
Wouldn't have one given.
But each to their own. I found them claustrophobic both inside and the actual estate.

But one person's 'small and cramped' can be another person's 'lovely and spacious'.

Given the maxim Location, Location, Location, I wonder if most people choose their new-build for the location or the house.

You can usually change your house a bit, but you can't change the location.

I understand there are small developments and one-off new builds which are slotted into existing communities and can be in great, desirable locations, but what about the bigger estates? Are people actively choosing to live on them because that want that location or is it more about the house?

When people look at non-new houses, they look for location, plus a type of house - ie 3 bed or detached. Usually you type in the area first on a search engine. It often seems to me that with new builds, people want a shiny new house, they want no renovation work and no maintenance costs for a few years - and they have to take those things where they are available. Often the bigger estates are out of town, require children going to new, non-established or tried and tested schools and being part of something which might not fully emerge for 10 years - so actually the 'feel' of the area is unknown. This is very different to buying in an established area - where you buy for the feel of the area as much as the house itself - people go for quirky areas, or trendy areas, or those with cafe culture, or those with lots of young professionals, or those near a specific great school etc. With a new build, it's hard to know how those things will turn out.

I think one of the key reasons new builds often drop in value in the 5 years after they are first bought is that their locations are often not great. Once the house is no longer brand new, the generic estate and issues such as being cut off from the more established communities or not in the catchment of the best established schools, mean people don't want to pay a premium. This is regarding the larger new build estates, which is where the bulk of new builds are located - simply in terms of space, large estates can't be located in the middle of established towns or villages - there isn't space.

So, did anyone choose their new build on a medium to large estate with the location as a key reason for buying? Just interested really - because where does the idea that location is everything fit in with new build locations?

They are so overpriced I often wonder how anyone manages to make a profit on them.
I also think they are often built in dubious locations. Near me they are currently building on an area known locally to flood; they built next to the local tip; next to a permanent gypsy site where ambulance crews won't go in without police escorts because of the issues on the site. Overlooking waste drainage areas!
They are small and they have tiny gardens with no room to ever extend.
I agree with a previous poster- older builds get my vote.
I paid £200k, got 3 reception rooms, 4 bedrooms, parking for 4(if I dig up the front garden) and a good size back garden. I could also convert the garage.
The new builds near me for 4 bedrooms are currently on sale for high 200's - mid 300's thousand, are packed in like sardines and 100%!not worth the price!

wombat
We had wanted to move to the estate we now live on for several years but just couldn't afford it until last year.
It's being extended quite slowly with a new phase every 3 or 4 years I think.
Its very near to my kids school which has an outstanding rating with Ofsted. They can walk there safely.
We are about a 15 minute walk into town, near to a couple of supermarkets and a small retail park.
The best bit of where our house is situated is that we are on the edge of the estate. We overlook a waterway, and fields. We have a river bank literally on our doorstep. But we are not isolated as some people are living in rural areas.
So I would say location was definitely the draw for us, there are loads of different styles and sizes of house, some absolutely huge to smaller starter homes.
I've never really been fond of newer houses, always preferred old Victorian type buildings but it is very nice not to have to worry about all the expenses that older houses can have.

My friend's DH is a quantity surveyor and says he'd never buy a new build. Make of that what you will.

I live in my 2nd new build. Love it. The first new build was too big! The second new build is just right. There's different specs and layouts for everyone.

Before that it was a Victorian house and a 1930s bungalow. Both were absolutely full of cracks, damp and cold.

Both new builds are warm and dry.

Imagine if new builds weren't built to last. Some are dodgy, some are good. Just like builders. Just like property developers. Just like everything in life.

Just do your research