New builds - love or loathe?

[CharlotteSometimes2020]

I currently live in a 5 bed new build.
Everyone that visits says how lovely it is etc
And it is nice and practical- double garage, etc
But I hate it!
I can't put my finger on it. I crave a normal street.
With New builds I always find they are on 'estates'. Everyone knows everyone's business, parking always a nightmare. I feel I'm surrounded by houses.
The only good thing is that with new builds is that you can make friends easy because everyone is 'new' to the neighbourhood.
What's other people's opinions about New builds vs old houses?

New builds are super efficient, no noise, very little heating needed and no serious repair that won’t be covered by the 10 years building insurance. The problem with most is the low ceiling of 2.40m versus 3.00m in Victorian houses or even 2.70m of more recent periods. This makes a huge difference in space perception and a really difficult one to decorate. In fact, if one check any interior design website or similar, ceilings are always invisible or high enough that they give this look that so many here praise. I have seen some new built with high ceilings in London that unfortunately tend to be premium but they certainly don’t look bog standards or soulless.

Loathe here, sorry OP.

We are in the process of moving at the moment, we haven’t viewed one new build, as neither DH or I like them. I am sure some estates are built better than others.

What puts us off new builds is, you are paying a premium, which can take along time to make a profit on resell, as it’s no longer new. The quality of fixtures, fitting & building materials used are usually the cheapest available, unless being built for a housing association etc when then a higher grade of materials are used, a surveyor told me this.

The small room dimensions, lack of garden space. The close proximity of neighbouring properties. The snagging list, that can take considerable time to fix.

I have friends that have brought new builds past, some love them, some have had real issues with the developer.

And for those reasons we would never purchase a new build.

I love the thought of the running costs.

It's not for me. Unless I could build it myself (could never afford this). I find them, in general, ugly and soulless boxes. I wouldn't choose to live on an estate either. I want a pub and restaurants and a bakery and a bit of life on the streets if I'm going to be with people, and just fields/hills otherwise.

Never lived in a house built after 1940, and mostly 1910. My new one is 1760 and it's absolutely bonkers, a higgledy piggledy heap of stone. It will need some love and time but it will be a happy home for me I think. If I didn't have the benefit of the family business (building, property) then I would not buy such a house, though, I agree!

The one I live in now is about 1890 but we renovated and the bills are about £30 a month, so it can be done.

Estates take a while to get established. I love near a large estate from the 1990s and it's now a very popular area with lots going on.

Lots of people are going to have to live in new build homes due to the housing shortage. Some are undersized but not all, and you get modern insulation standards, disabled access etc .

Watching with interest.

Me and DH have been in our Victorian terrace for 11 years and looking at new builds now. We're sick of not being able to park Infront of our house, no real community, very rarely see my neighbours, any decorating takes months as the house is old and held together with wallpaper. As it's old it's a complete dust trap. Its just never clean clean. I can gut it and an hour later the dust is back. If I had a huge budget and unlimited time it could be gorgeous.

Not sure about the whole 'estate' arguement cos surely any collection of houses is an estate unless your the only house on the lane?! We're on an 'estate' of Victorian terraces, 50 and 60s semis. They were new builds once.

I'm drawn to a new build because of convenience. There's potential to part ex meaning were not going to have to faff with viewings and estate agents. I want a finished house. (We need a new kitchen and bathroom and can't even contemplate the headache money and time that will take to do it here). I want a drive and a garage and a garden more than a few square feet of yard. I'd like a bit of space for DDs to be able to play out. I'd like a house that's economical to run (heat etc) I'd like to know our neighbours but I guess that's luck of the draw wherever you live.

I am however put off a bit. When the mortgage deal ends you don't know the True value of what you've bought so could end up in negative equity. They are a bit boxy and lack character. And space. For all the gains we'd get we would lose out on nice big rooms. But it's the price you pay I guess.

I don't like them.

They're soulless.
There are a lot of rooms but they're small.
Tiny gardens.
Nowhere to park / barely any front drive.
No possibility of extending.
Poorly made / bad quality.
Can hear every move your neighbours make.
Houses are crammed together

I could go on.

Not sure about the whole 'estate' arguement cos surely any collection of houses is an estate

housing estate

noun BRITISH

a residential area in which the houses have all been planned and built at the same time

You can’t really compare one new build to another. When my friend was looking for a house she looked at the new builds in her budget and found they were tiny boxes with a postage stamp garden. Her Victorian terrace was definitely the right choice.
However, my other friends have a new build on an exclusive estate. Tree lined road, beautiful light airy house. Every house is different as plots were bought by individual builders. Huge bedrooms, 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom, study, large reception rooms etc. It is modern and maybe not to everyone’s taste but is a lovely and safe and very quiet.

Not every character property is lovely and they can be money pits. It’s hard to compare like for like when budgets are so different.

@unicornparty

I don't like them.

They're soulless.
There are a lot of rooms but they're small.
Tiny gardens.
Nowhere to park / barely any front drive.
No possibility of extending.
Poorly made / bad quality.
Can hear every move your neighbours make.
Houses are crammed together

I could go on.

Maybe the ones you've seen!

This is out first new build, we were going to buy an old victorian house but the survey came back suggesting that there was movement in the ground, so we pulled out. I didn't want to lose my buyer, so we ended up viewing a new build and fell in love with it.

Small rooms - nope! Our bedroom is above the double garage and is huge.

Tiny gardens - nope, ours is the biggest plot on the estate and a great size for a new build. I admit that lots do have small plots, we certainly viewed a few and ruled them out because of this, but we struck lucky with this one. We considered an extension (it has a large kitchen/family room/dining room and my husband wanted a separate dining room) but decided against it, however we are currently having a garage conversion, so half of our double garage is being converted into a dining room.

Parking is great, we have (or had as it is being converted!) a double garage, which will now be a single garage, plus have room for 4 cars on the drive. Every drive on the estate has room for at least 2 cars, so there are very few cars parked on the street. Our part of the street is an off-shoot, like a tiny cul-de-sac, so very private, no noise.

We did have some snagging issues which got sorted quickly, and recently discovered some water ingress on a wall in the kitchen. This is covered by NHBC as we've been in here 3 years now(confirmed claim) so will be fixed.

I get that new builds aren't for everyone, and I agree that there are some that are like in the post I've quoted, but you can't tar them all with the same brush.

I'm not against them at all. My first property was a new build. Like most people, I had no spare money for renovations so it suited me perfectly.
My current house is 1980s. I would consider a new build if it gave me the space and location I have now, for a similar price but it just wouldn't happen here. Everyone in our close has a double garage to the side plus ample space either side. Each house is very detached with large drives and decent gardens.
I really think it depends what you want. If you don't want to worry about upkeep etc, they're great

From a romantic pov I love older houses and have lived in several, all with their quirks. In an ideal world, I'd live in one again but I needed a specific type of home this time around and so a newer one ticked all the boxes (built 2005). It is no where near as fun to live in - and never quite looks as cosy, inviting or festive as the older ones have looked - never as cottagey and the garden never looks beautifully and slightly wild like older gardens do, but it is very easy to live in.

Everything just works, nothing really needs doing too much, decorating is easy, bills are cheaper than they've ever been in older houses and we're warm almost all the time - sometimes too warm in summers. We never have unwanted wildlife guests, like spiders. But rarely have wanted ones either - like the year family of blue tits nested in the vent bricks of one of my past homes or the year baby bunny made their home under the evergreen bush in the garden.

At the risk of being a bit twee, though - a home's character is built from the times you have there, the memories and laughs and tears. The family you love there. This home is also easy to live in because laughter is heard often within it. Because well loved dogs lounge on its sofas. Because memories of special times with family, shadow the walls.

My feeling about the estates being built currently where Help to Buy is a big thing and a large proportion buy with it, that often people in different financial circumstances are buying new builds these days.

New build, especially with Help to Buy or Shared Ownership can make home ownership, or an upgrade to a bigger home possible for those who don’t have lots of cash behind them....people who don’t have the full size deposit needed for buying on the open market, or who worry about the maintenance costs of older homes as they don’t have and don’t really expect to have substantial savings at any point. The monthly payments for a Helpt to Buy mortgage and/or the rental part, if it’s shared owensership are affordable on a mo they basis and that is more important than the fact that over time it will probably cost more because if the Help to Buy scheme and because there is always a premium for new.

Older properties can need work doing. It can be daunting to those who haven’t done it before, lack skills or the process of getting others to do it isn’t appealing, plus the costs are just not affordable for some.

I know that not everyone buying New Build today is using Help to Buy or that everyone buying lacks savings behind them, and that lots of new builds are extremely expensive and not all are on big estates. But in terms of the vast majority being sold which are on the bigger estates, especially those which are smaller family houses or first time buyer flats, I think there is a target customer, who might struggle to buy on the open market, or who will be willing to pay more for shiny new and lots of en-suites, rather than for location. People get the shiny new and the en-suites and probably access to the cheaper finance and lower deposit requirements, but in return get the smaller rooms, the houses built to squeeze as many in as possible which results in lots of overlooking, the odd windy narrow roads which aren’t wide enough for parking, but people do park on them anyway causing congestion and bottlenecks, the internal walls which make it hard to put up pictures, sometimes just one single room for all the functions of cooking, living and eatimg, often a lack of storage and cupboard space etc etc. These downsides don’t apply to all new builds by any means, but the majority of perhaps 2-3 bed flats and houses being sold often suffer from these downsides. I guess that the builder needs a big profit for their efforts and essentially the quality is what the money people can afford buys, once the builder has their cut, the Help to Buy people have some and the lower deposits many have are taken into account.

I rented one for a short period last year. I felt like I was in a goldfish bowl even though it was a detached. I quickly noticed that a few neighbours never opened their curtains, and I can understand why. It was noisy all the time too, the enclosed estate like layout creates a quad echo type thing, iykwim.

The estate was a like a car park. Cars were bigger and more of them than actual houses. Dumped up kerbs etc

I prefer older homes, preferably haunted, minimum 100yrs old.
I have nothing against new builds- I just do not trust developers today. I see estates in my area going up on ground that I know for a fact is a flood plain or used to have a chemical plant on it and I wonder if these buyers have any idea?
I personally like the DIY aspect of older homes and feel I am helping preserve a bit of history to pass down to future generations.

Not enough space. Postage stamp garden. Insufficient parking usually means narrow roads with cars parked along the road. Also, no front garden means opening front door onto the pavement. They're bloody pricey too.

It’s the gardens for me. Too small, terrible compacted soil, no mature shrubs or trees. I like old walls and hedges, rambling flowerbeds and big old trees full of wildlife.

I would love to live in a new build. I love modern and living with less problems. Don't understand the all houses are same argument. We live on a street in North london with lots of very old terraced houses. All similar layout, all attached with paper thin walls,...

We were a new build when we moved in 27 years ago. £100,000 at the time and £500,000 now. All gardens now established, all houses now taken on their own personalities and still no real maintenance required. Bide your time, it wont be a new build forever. Everything is still fit for purpose. No drafts, leaks, everything well planned. I just don't have headspace for a house that needs a lot of attention. For me the house is a background to my life. Not my life.

A postage stamp size garden is a plus to me.

I live on a new build in a quiet area and I hate the holidays as every kid known to man some how appears here, also had a few issues with drainage on the estate, but I like the house and neighbours.

I live in a new build. Single unique block, nowhere near an 'estate'.

Compared to the past 20 years in a Victorian flat it's absolute bliss. Square walls, even floors, no drafts, easy to heat, easy to clean, minimal dust, superior noise-proofing and insulation, much more storage space, bigger windows, no creaking doors/floorboards, kitchen layout is actually liveable, better ventilation in the bathroom.

You can ram the 'character' of Victorian housing up your hole. Wouldn't look at another 1800's property if you were giving them away. They're a nightmare to maintain.

Loath. I need to love the house I live in, and I've not seen one new build yet that I could love, there's nothing about them that's remotely loveable. They always seem to be top heavy, no decent frontage, and never have enough garden space for me. All for a new build premium with rarely any opportunity to improve. I can see the appeal from a low maintenance view, but that's about it. I'll take my old, wonky floored, bumpy walled 1870-1910 cottage and day.

@unicornparty

I don't like them.

They're soulless.
There are a lot of rooms but they're small.
Tiny gardens.
Nowhere to park / barely any front drive.
No possibility of extending.
Poorly made / bad quality.
Can hear every move your neighbours make.
Houses are crammed together

I could go on.

Clearly not looked at enough New builds because my house is none of what you have listed.

I like the look of them but my goodness they are tiny. No parking, tiny gardens, tiny rooms with no storage. No potential to add value or change the rooms.