Are New builds an ideal way onto the property ladder for a 1st time buyer?

R_P_W

Your paying a lot more than 20k more including interest

newbian

In London if you want a flat, it's either a new build (or within past 15 years or so) or it's a conversion from a house. Flats in converted houses are sometimes pretty dire - lower ground floor, two flights of stairs to your front door, shared garden. There are very few purpose built blocks older than 50 years and they are out of the reach of FTBs in places like Pimlico and St Johns Wood.

In London new build flats hold value because the demand for flats is very high. Before we purchased we looked at a nearby new build estate for comparison and owners are selling at comfortable profits after 10 years. London is an anomaly.

There is a lot of anti NB sentiment on these boards. I do wonder if these people have been to London.

lindsaygalaxy

New builds in my area cost much more than a starard say 1970s house. There are currently 2 new developments in the town. 2 bed houses are going for £250k, 3 bedrooms £330k (not London). Even with the 5% firstbuy scheme and or the new scheme the goverment are on about in the budget, it would would be impossible to get a mortgage on that amount of money, the salary multiples are too hight. I work in the public sector too, so a payrise isnt looking likely after the budget yesterday either. We have no choice but to save for a bigger deposit, which will take forever while renting and find an older house, but at least it wont lose its value so quickly.

A development in another part of the town is now about 5 years old. 3 beds were selling for over £280k, its a mix of private and social housing. After a few incidents in the paper of anti-social behaviour and the housing association not helping, the avergae 3 bed terrace goes on the market for £190k.

lizzay

Thanks again, i'm just going back and fourth in my mind; i know i want to rent that i am sure however I'm at the stage where i just want to move out of the parents house so i would really love to live in my own property and then rent it out later. Its just as you can imagine i want to make sure that if i do get a new build i can do this adequately and whilst i am fairly young, i feel as though getting a non new build is out of my reach (for the short term anyway) however the issues that "seem" to arrive with new builds is really off putting. How has your experience been ?

Bazshawkins

newbian wrote: »

In London if you want a flat, it's either a new build (or within past 15 years or so) or it's a conversion from a house. Flats in converted houses are sometimes pretty dire - lower ground floor, two flights of stairs to your front door, shared garden. There are very few purpose built blocks older than 50 years and they are out of the reach of FTBs in places like Pimlico and St Johns Wood.

In London new build flats hold value because the demand for flats is very high. Before we purchased we looked at a nearby new build estate for comparison and owners are selling at comfortable profits after 10 years. London is an anomaly.

There is a lot of anti NB sentiment on these boards. I do wonder if these people have been to London.

Not really true. There is also ex-local authority to consider. Where we are, SE1/SE16 there are absolutely loads of ex-local authority flats on the market. We looked at a few before eventually buying one and in terms of value they seem much better than anything else around.

Not neccessarily the most attractive buildings from the outside, but spacious and seemingly well built.

sinbad182

Bazshawkins wrote: »

Not really true. There is also ex-local authority to consider. Where we are, SE1/SE16 there are absolutely loads of ex-local authority flats on the market. We looked at a few before eventually buying one and in terms of value they seem much better than anything else around.

Not neccessarily the most attractive buildings from the outside, but spacious and seemingly well built.

Definitely agree - add meticulously maintained to the list.

However, they're generally in less desirable areas, you dont know what you're getting with your neighbours (usually a mix of left over council tenants and newer HA tenants), as you say they're more often than not chronically ugly, and for all these reasons they're harder to sell on.

OddballJamie

Another thing to keep in mind are other local developments that can harm the resale value of a new build. Lets say you buy a new build for £200k, two years later you want to sell it and hopefully get your £200k back.
But in the meantime more new houses are being built at around the same price and having the option of picking what options you want inside and deposit incentives offered by the builders. The only way to compete is by dropping the price of yours. If you had originally bought an older house and wanted to resell, you would have more options to help you compete effectively against other houses in the area for sale.

Although you can get some better deals at the beginning and very end of a development. I bought the last house on the lot where I live which the previous sale had fallen through after the buyer had paid for carpets, lights and other options, so we got those things and negotiated the price to £16k (10%) less than both neighbours paid for their houses.

Just to add to the NB devaluing debate, this is a local huge estate which has been built gradually over the last 8 years to give you an idea of fallen prices.
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Bazshawkins

sinbad182 wrote: »

Definitely agree - add meticulously maintained to the list.

However, they're generally in less desirable areas, you dont know what you're getting with your neighbours (usually a mix of left over council tenants and newer HA tenants), as you say they're more often than not chronically ugly, and for all these reasons they're harder to sell on.

The street/estate we've just bought on has had 2 sales in the last 2 months, 2 flats under offer, and another just gone on the market. So they don't seem that hard to sell!

That said, they're a bit nicer looking than your average LA estate, each has its own garden, very well located just outside Zone 1, quiet street away from the main road, unrestricted parking.

warehouse

YoungBusinessman wrote: »

No value what so ever in a new build, it is like a new car. Soon as its off the forecourt it depreciates only difference is eventually a flat value will steady out, won't go down to scrap value.

This is exactly right, but the only exception is that the car doesn't come with a housing association family in the boot. I wouldn't touch a new build with a bargepole.

newbian

Bazshawkins wrote: »

Not really true. There is also ex-local authority to consider. Where we are, SE1/SE16 there are absolutely loads of ex-local authority flats on the market. We looked at a few before eventually buying one and in terms of value they seem much better than anything else around.

Not neccessarily the most attractive buildings from the outside, but spacious and seemingly well built.

Sure that's a good point, but there's a reason they're better value. As you say many of them are really unattractive and some are still in the middle of less than desirable areas.