Why sell your newbuild

[Tupster]

Just intrigued really. Seeing almost newbuilds on the market that can only have been lived in for 18 months at the most, where the builders haven't left the site yet, and asking price seems to be way below what the "new" price was. I'm just nosy really - not interested in buying these - but why would someone sell off a newbuild at a massive loss after such a short time? Add on stamp duty, moving costs etc, how desperate would you have to be?

It could be circumstances beyond their control - relationship break-up, job move, ill health or redundancy meaning they can no longer afford the mortgage, or even they have come into some money and can upgrade to somewhere bigger - but it could also be due to hating the house for some reason.

After all the news stories about very low quality new builds, estate infrastructure left unfinished, snagging issues not dealt with, unreasonable service charges and so on, I would look at all those things very carefully before considering a property like that.

People on here say they have made mistakes all the time and want to go back.

They might be forced to sell because of job loss. Or splitting up.

They may be looking to flip the property to make a profit.

Or it may be some way of trying to disguise the new build price by the developer.

Definitely not flipping to make a profit! We could be talking more like an 80k loss here (450k asking price now) - even with some double dealing from the developers over the original sale price, it's a scale of loss that unless the owners have won the lottery just seems impossible to manage.

I know 2 youngish couples who spent several years living at home with parents to save up for a deposit, only to split up within a year of living together. Couldn't manage to take on the mortgage alone.....

Several houses have been sold on our development and generally it has been things like relationship breakdown, job loss/relocation, pregnancy etc. Chatting to people, not one has said it is because they don't like the house/area.
Not one of the houses has been sold for less than the cost of a brand-new one, they have always gone for more (which I often find perplexing).
The new houses here are almost always bought off-plan which means a wait of 12-months or more.

There are so many stories of shockingly built new builds I’ve seen plenty of people on Facebook groups saying they are giving up and selling or already have. They can’t deal with the stress of dealing with the house falling apart and the developer not doing anything. Feel bad for the next people though!

The 4-bed once new builds I see advertised seem to be priced 10% more than the new price last year. Obviously the new owners have spent a few k on the garden or whatnot, but not the 40k extra they are asking.

Well we live in a new build on a Bellway development and it's brilliant... Not a single snag, very well built and no noise transference from adjoined neighbours. You also definitely can’t say that the builders "threw them up". Not at all. Ours was only the 4th house to be built so we saw the rest being constructed and they definitely took their time!

Round here it’s because people bought them off plan/ before they were actually built - and are disappointed with how small they are. I think there’s a difference between reading measurements on a plan and understanding how big that will feel. Especially for first time buyers.

shocking!

This bloke is excellent.
www.facebook.com/NewHomeQualityControl/reels/

I’ve sold up relatively quickly a few times in the past due to relocation with work.

I once put a flat on the market the same day I moved in. Sold the same day and moved out 6 weeks later.

A friend bought a house off plan, first time buyer, and was majorly disappointed with the small size of the living room.

That’s great but it’s a shame it’s not the case for everyone. Some developers or site managers will be worse than others.
My friend only discovered problems with her house a few years in. Almost ten years on she has found new things that weren’t done properly. Probably why a lot of tradesmen won’t work on them as they don’t want their names associated. We had an electrician once do a days work in our house. He said a developer wanted him to do the same thing, but for a few houses in the same or less time!
I’ve seen photos on groups of shower trays where there are no pipes underneath connected so people found out a few days in when their ceiling fell through. Doors that don’t fit and slugs coming through the gap. Gardens with no drainage and full of builders rubbish. Could write a book. Oh and then you have to pay the fees for maintenance on the estate until the council adopts the roads- if they ever do! One road in our town wasn’t made wide enough so it’s never been adopted.
My friend found out she had no insulation in one room, kitchen had to be redone. Another has faulty electrics and drain pipes stuffed with plastic rubbish!
Some people will stay but others will give up and sell up.

When you see how many new builds are sold it's not surprising that a small number are resold.

My son's been looking and young people do move regularly. He's viewed quite a few non new builds bought in 2019 - 2021 that the young people are selling to move up the ladder.

The most worrying new build he saw was one sold in 2021 and described with "a new kitchen fitted recently".

Same here.

im in my 3rd new build. Two of of three had no snags. And the one that did was very minor. All three very spacious and beautifully finished.

not planning on living again till we retire but I would only buy new build.

I sold mine after 12 months! I outgrew it far more quickly than I thought I would! I PX’d with the developer for a house across the road, took a hit on sale price but got a massive discount on the new house. But land registry shows the big reduction on what I’d paid 12 months earlier.

My brother and his girlfriend split up 2 months after moving into their new build. Sadly they're not the only ones I know who've done that.

We've just moved into a brand new Bellway too and have had very few minor snags at ours either. There are still some people selling up already, but the development has taken two years to get to this point and isn't near completion yet. One person is selling at a £10k loss because they're pregnant and now need a 5 bed. Another is selling because he bought a shared ownership and the bloke is a builder and didn't have 2 years of accounts when he bought, and now he has, so he can afford a much bigger place. I don't know why the others are because everyone here says what a lovely development this is. It's not always nefarious though.

Had two newbuilds however both from good developers. Some are not so great.

We have ours up for sale after buying 2 years ago, because we inherited a large sum of money and have had two offers at asking price today (10k more than we purchased for)

I have been told that a lot of contractors buy houses on a new build estate as soon as they are avalible then live there while the estate is built.

When building stops they sell up and move on to the next

I have lived in a new build for 4yrs on a small site of 25 houses...have had no issues, it's a gorgeous house.

In the 4yrs we've been here only 1 house has been sold and that was because of a marriage breakdown.

Out of interest what are "Good Developers "

Troublesome neighbour on the estate forces sale? Don't a certain amount of houses built on an estate have to be given over to social housing? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Some people buy early off plan at a massive discount.

Distress, divorce, death or debt