Buying next to development - the noise??

[westcountryfaithful]

Hi all

We have just had an offer accepted on a lovely house in our area. We are very happy with the house itself. The catch is that its very close to a major new development. 2500 houses being built over a 10-20 year timescale.

We anticipate that the noise will be really bad only for the 1-2 years that they will be developing close to us. But obviously we dont really know.

We live in a hugely competitive housing market and have been looking for about 2 years. Only got to see this one because we finally put our house up for sale and then saw this one off market.

Are we being a bit mad proceeding with this sale?

...not sure I would. It's just not the noise but would having the house in a built up area devalue your house in anyway over those 10-15 years? Did you get the house at a rate reflecting this?

As well as the noise would there be large vehicles making themselves into the development site? Would this affect traffic if you're on a quiet, small road? 10-15 years is a long time to put up with this.

Also if you decide to move again in 'X' number of years would this put potential buyers off from viewing / making an offer?

Having said that, if it's your forever dream home and you can see past all that then you should go for it!

Do you work from home? Years ago my DH bought one of the first flats in a new build estate and didn't really hear anything because he was in the office while the builders were working. They didn't work evenings or weekends.

Also, have you checked the traffic during peak hours in term time? We want to move because there are 500 new homes being built in our village. There are only two exit roads and both are already horrendous outside of school holidays. We're worried about another 1000 cars trying to get out (assuming 2 per house).

Yes we wouldnt be on a direct road to the new development. It would effectively be the neighbouring estate. There would also be 2 largeish gardens between us and the edge of the development.

Had to pay an arm and leg for the property but it's big and has a great garden. Nothing's cheap where we live so the price is good compared to alternatives.

If it was a small development i guess i wouldnt ask the question. But when it's this big yes i worry. Will it affect us 7-10 years down the line when we may want to sell.

@milduras Yes currently wfh

I personally would be ok with it. I’m sure the really noisy stuff that’s right on your doorstep would be completed soon ish as they tend to build most of these developments in chunks. Sounds like you intend on staying for a fair while.

Plus there’s nothing to stop you buying in a non building area, and then your neighbours deciding to demolish their house and build a new one- that just happened to my parents. Either that or an extension or loft conversion next door etc.

I would hate this.

It would put me off tbh, I would be worried about the strain on local services, as usually large scale developments often make promises that don’t always come to fruition. Such as promising a new GP surgery, all well good, except were are the GP’s going to come from? There is a shortage.

The noise, dust, heavy traffic is also a factor, especially as the development is large scale and going to take a number of years to complete.

I don’t think you can compare to a neighbour adding an extension, loft room that is a short lived inconvenience, this development will be long term and possibly why the vendor has made a decision to move.