New Build Houses At Lowest Ever Level.

thescouselander

I went to look at a new build just last week. To be honest they were't exactly selling it to me - they seemed to be saying all the right things to put me off in fact. Also I hear banks require a minimum of 20% equity when buying a new build which suggests to me they think new builds are at least 10% over valued. I wont be buying.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

That's a pretty vague answer.

You want to, and indeed did, call me an armchair economist for putting reasons behind my thoughts.

Surely you can do better than an armchair economist and give proposals or solutions to house building levels. Something a bit more robust than a vague "concentrate on the economy" as if that will fix all affordability, land value, lending and house building problems "just like that".

Of course it's vague. There's nothing practical that can be done to fix the problems you list "just like that". Even if such a solution was dreamt up it would take years rather than minutes to implement.

Additionally, we need to remember that on this special interest forum that the world revolves around house prices etc. when in reality it doesn't. That impacts the type of action required - I think the problem is less serious than you so I would be suggesting less drastic actions and would be much more careful about who I was going to punish. The focus should be the economy - better economy = more money & more confidence.

I did suggest that costs should be taken out of housing. I'd be looking at how many people were taking margins out of housing and try and see if any could be reduced.

Here's a practical suggestion that might have a small effect. I think letting agents shouldn't be allowed to take a penny from tenants. All costs should go to the landlord instead. Now most of these will be passed on but if the landlord was receiving a direct bill for a credit search of, say, £200 they'd have more of an impact, as a customer, if they told the agent they were taking the p**s.

Also if the landlord was receiving the costs associated with changing tenants then there's more pressure for landlords to keep their tenants.

wotsthat

thescouselander wrote: »

I went to look at a new build just last week. To be honest they were't exactly selling it to me - they seemed to be saying all the right things to put me off in fact.

Like what?

thescouselander

wotsthat wrote: »

Like what?

Well, for instance we were interested in buying a house in the later phase of the development in around 2013. The saleswoman said prices would definitely go up by then and that would put us into a higher stamp duty bracket.

The_White_Horse

one of the problems is, of course, the lefty and their bullying tactics. if someone buys land, wants to build homes and sell them (ie a business) they are told they have to build "houses for scum" (i think that is the correct name for the scheme). this way, they have to make the houses for real people smaller and more expensive so the houses for scum can be built. the added effect is that real people, spending £200k on a small house don't want scum on their doorstep.

if the councils stopped the chinese tactics (which they hate in china) that may help a little.

stonethrower

wotsthat wrote: »

I've just bought a newbuild without a dodgy scheme BTW.

So there is a very good chance that you got a small poorly constructed place.

thescouselander

thescouselander wrote: »

Well, for instance we were interested in buying a house in the later phase of the development in around 2013. The saleswoman said prices would definitely go up by then and that would put us into a higher stamp duty bracket.

I should probably add that I did burst out laughing at the suggestion that house prices are about to start rocketing again.

Road_Hog

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Theres 2 issues here...

You've missed an issue, it's a bit of an elephant in the room.

Immigration.

We're already the most crowded country (England which is what most of the discussion is about) in Europe.

We are going to run out of land eventually and if the population is increasing the last thing we want to do is build on agricultural land.

The government forecast is for the population to increase by 8 million in the next 15 or so years. It wouldn't matter if we double house building, because the root cause of the problem isn't the number of houses being built, it is the demand that we're allowing into the country.

We're going to be getting 5 million extra people by 2020. That's 500,000 every year. It's like turning the tap up higher to fill a bucket with a huge hole in it, if we don't repair the hole then we're never going to fill the bucket, no matter how high we turn the tap up.

Oh, and the trend is up, when the ONS revise their figures each year, they're higher than the previous estimates.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/26/uk-population-70-million-2027

wotsthat

thescouselander wrote: »

Well, for instance we were interested in buying a house in the later phase of the development in around 2013. The saleswoman said prices would definitely go up by then and that would put us into a higher stamp duty bracket.

I'm quite rude to salespeople that spout this rubbish.

When I purchased in 1999 we were torn between waiting for a later phase 6 months later (we'd already spent enough time living on a different building site). We were told pretty much the same thing - I said if they were so confident that prices were going to skyrocket then why not delay the sales of the current phase.

Then when we looked at the current phase we were told that they were selling like hot cakes and we needed to make a reservation quick. I asked, if they were going so quickly, why the builder had invested in showhomes, converting a double garage to a sales office and employing two full time sales staff for the previous 18 months.

My wife intervened at this point and started being nice.

shortchanged_2

wotsthat wrote: »

Are small independent builders known for building houses cheaper than the large builders?

Are small independent builders going to sell a house for less than it's market value just because it, apparently, costs them less to build.

Maybe, maybe not. But chances are you will get a bigger, better house for the money than the shi*ty shoeboxes one of the big companies would build.