New housing in the UK

[RichTea90]

Sorry this is a bit of a ranty post but I live in South East England I’m 33 years old. Trying to get on the property ladder with a 40k deposit and a joint income of £119k. We are looking at 3 bed new build as want to start a family but they’re all so expensive and about 30-40k out of our budget.

Why is the government letting all of these greedy house building companies build and sell properties that are just not affordable to normal, every day people / couples / families. I think it’s truly scandalous.

instead im staring at Rightmove looking at a lot of properties that are so outdated or falling down and we just don’t have enough money to / disposable income to then do the property up.

feeling rather stressed 😩 is anyone else in the same position or understands what I mean

Our wedding cost more than £150 but I agree with the principle. No need to spend 10k on a wedding while struggling to buy a house. I would cut the cost of the wedding drastically & save a few thousand that way.

"the appeal of the new build is they quite often take huge chunks off of the house price and throw in a lot for free."

I think your completely misunderstanding the extra costs and subsequent LOSS when buying a new build in the current environment. Have a read of the recent thread started yesterday on here.

What do you mean exactly? DP and I need somewhere to live where we can raise a family. We are likely to stay there for a good 6-10 years. We are not looking to make money from it tbh.

I am still open to old properties and I do look for them too.

But when you add this on to a deposit it doesn’t drastically bring down the price of the mortgage payments anyway. Thanks for the advice though.

Maybe not but 10k is still 10k it’s a lot of money that could be spent on more necessary things.

I wasn’t giving you advice about what sort of wedding, just agreeing with another poster that personally I would save money on the wedding and use it elsewhere.

Sums like 10k sound small in relation to house prices but in reality, it’s a handy amount of money to have in savings for home improvements, repairs etc.

What I mean, in black and white, is that if you buy a new build your hard earned 40k deposit is probably immediately gone...
If you buy a second hand property wisely you shouldnt immediately loose that money.
I think it's admirable that you are just looking for somewhere to raise a family, and not to make money. For me though, if I were in your position, with all the extra costs that come with starting a family I would not want to put myself financially behind from the beginning.

I agree with you. Your comment is reasonable.

I guess another attraction to a new build is the 10 year warranty you get - prevents costs of repairs.

Agree that is an attraction of new builds that they come with a 10 year warranty.

But the snags and repairs on new builds are notoriously horrendous, regardless of warranty. You still have to chase up the repairs.
I think there is something to be said for a house that has been lived in for last twenty years...it's unlikely that the plumbing and electrics are going to be completely dodgy or wouldn't something have gone wrong for the existing inhabitants, and at least it's not falling down...if its stood this long why would it suddenly collapse? Also building materials nowadays are cheaper and shoddier than those of past, regardless of superficial decoration.

This house hasn't been wired for 40 years. The kitchen has a new ring and there's a new fuse box. We havent blown up yet. The boilers 20 years old. The radiators and pipework are 30 years old. The roof is 40 years old, bar a tiny bit of work near chimney stack. The house is 120 years old...it has a few cracks...but it hasnt fallen down yet. It doesnt have any sort of warranty. It doesnt need one.

Don't people start out in not ideal flats/maisonettes anymore?

Expecting a study in your first home?

Some compromises are needed, I think!

I tend to agree with the OP though- the whole Housing market is broken, and the old adage of the housing ladder does not really exist. Yes, our flat has accrued equity, But the next rung on the ladder up is too big and expensive gap to make it unaffordable to move .

Buying an older house is always a better option imo...but it's hard work

I've done extentions, etc, with young dc, and it's stressful

New builds in the UK are so poorly built that I'd never choose one. I don't care how sparkly new it is

My sibling bought one off plan. Constant issues with drains, appliances and when they sold it it transpired that the building company had sold the same part of land to their neighbours! No idea how that was resolved in the end as it was on both house deeds!

The trouble is doing up a house costs at least twice as much now as it did pre pandemic. DS put an offer in on a property that needed central heating, which would be the first job, followed by a full refurbishment over time. He factored those initial costs int his offer but the seller wouldn't budge and as it was a small terrace there will be a ceiling price for that house when it's done up so he walked away.
DS and his partner are in their early 30s, renting a1 bed flat for the last 6 years and are ready to buy a house but there's nothing coming on to the market in their price range since the pre and post Xmas stock sold. It seems quite a different market to what lots of other are experiencing. The are looking in Buckinghamshire and, like you OP, don't want the expense and hassle of moving again after a couple of years if they can help it .

There are lots of 3 bed older houses in Berkshire for your budget and there is the train line to Paddington or Waterloo.
There are also new film studios in Arborfield. I wouldn’t touch a new build. Rubbish quality and massively overpriced. I saw a 3 bed terrace for £525k near me! You’d get a detached or at least a semi for that price for an older house.

Go on some new build Facebook groups and you’ll see it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.
Get an older house - where you’re allowed a survey before you buy it!

Theres no guarantee of quality just because it’s a new build. Quite often it’s the opposite.

There are several pre-owned houses in Yateley and Blackwater within your budget. They won't all be falling down!

Not our first home, it’s our 3rd.

Absolutely understand what you mean. I live in Oxfordshire on a very large new build estate. Whenever our friends ask how we can afford it, I jokingly say "someone literally had to die for us to afford this". I received a £120k inheritance, that was the only way we could ever afford it. Even then, our mortgage payments are on the larger side. We are on about the same income as you, on a 3 bed house. We really want to try for dc2, but we are reluctant to let go of the home office because I WFH. If we have another baby, we either have to stop having a WFH space or the children will be in one room - fine once they're a bit older but difficult with a toddler and baby. Moving to a 4 bed seems impossible right now, everything in our area starts at about £750k+.

Our estate is full of young families like us. Mum, dad and a few kids. We look around at them and just think "how TF are you affording this, this would never have been affordable if it were not for inheritance" and I find it hard to believe that every single one of them have an inheritance the size of the one we got.

Some parts of farnborough are really nice but some are really, really not. For some reason they like to build new builds right next to areas which can be a bit problematic. Our first house was like that and in the first year we were there we had 4 break in attempts WHILE WE WERE HOME. Goodness knows how many when we were not.

Goodness me!!!

120k deposit? How much is your house worth? That’s an insane deposit.

also 750k for a 4 bed… where on earth do you live, would you not consider moving to a cheaper area?

Used to work in an estate agents and your a typical buyer, long list of must have but not willing to compromise.

I used to tell people like you you need 3 must haves and thats it and the rest you can compromise on.

So is it a 3bed, short commute and budget? Or 3bed, short commute and new build meaning budget will be a compromise.

Unless you have more money to fulfil your list.

That’s not at all how the system works these days. The notion of a housing ladder is a couple of decades out of date! It’s not really possible in today’s economy.

OP is wisest to hold on for a three bed if they want to TTC as the likelihood is that once living there it’d be quite some time (think many years) before they would be in a financial position to buy again, and buy bigger.