new build negotiation?

gaz141

I bought a shared ownership flat last year in London (it won the Evening Standard best new affordable housing development award in London this year, but it is 35/65 shared ownership and privately bought) Yes it is not in the area I would like to live ideally, but hey ho, it is a really nice flat and I love it, new build and all, never had the heating on the whole winter as it is really hot and energy efficient, so I'm saving every month on energy bills on my previous nice little Victorian, damp flat

gazzabboi

Can't go wrong with that, until you have a family.

ndf9876

Paul_the_Painter wrote: »

Stuff is easier to negotiate on than cash. They want the land registry to show a sale at the asking price. But the land registry doesn't know what was included in the sale. So flooring, garden, white goods, nicer fittings (light switches, kitchen, bathroom tiles etc) all possible. 20% off list price - forget it.

Absolutely this. When I looked I was told a similar story about not needing to sell discounted because the properties were flying out - and indeed they are, for all their over-inflated pricing - but we were offered floor coverings of our choice up to x value, a choice of fitted kitchen, white goods and bathroom suite. This was not in your area so I don't know how this varies by region and developer, but there you go.

LukieD

It really depends on the developer. I bought last year and managed to negotiate £10k off a £360k new build which is only 2.7% but the sales guys told me (after everything was completed and exchanged) that I was one of the only people who managed to get money off the asking price and it was because I was a first time buyer with no chain.

gazzabboi

I think its looking like best I can take off is 2% off 200k inc carpets. Still, a discount is better than nothing.

thedalmeny

I think how much you can negotiate depends entirely on the location, developer and time of year.

I looked at 7 different sites in the North West before buying, from 5 different developers.

I also looked at the Landregistry to see what houses had sold for, literally all houses on the site had sold for asking price with the exception of one. The one that sold for less than asking was discounted by 4%, i managed to get a discount of 5-6% with extras thrown in (carpets, integration fridge / freezer and turf).

You have to look at how the house price / size compares to open market though.. The houses on the site i eventually purchased from were competitively priced compared to others in a 3-5 mile radius on the open market, so factor that into your expectations of a discount. I mean even now, if i look on rightmove at all 4 bedroom detached in a 5 mile radius of the house i purchased only 3 are available of similar size and they are 4-5% more than i paid, then there are a further 5 available at 8-9% more than i paid. There are none available for less.

Bare in mind the average sold price is 6-7% under list price in the U.K for houses then i felt i pretty much got the best price humanly possible. I'm actually surprised i managed to get such a good deal, even my mortgage adviser was... This won't be the case for everywhere though, as i did in my hunt see some very overpriced new build houses.

Don't let threads sway you when people say they got 10-15% off list price, it just means that they may have been buying a pretty overpriced house to begin with. Look at the open market, sold prices and make your decision on what you think is a good price is based on that.

gazzabboi

I'd say that new builds are better value than open market. All the land registry prices on the development have been fairly close to asking price, with the exception of an odd few. Good to know that everybody agrees that you won't get much more than 2-3% off the list prices.

thedalmeny

gazzabboi wrote: »

I'd say that new builds are better value than open market. All the land registry prices on the development have been fairly close to asking price, with the exception of an odd few. Good to know that everybody agrees that you won't get much more than 2-3% off the list prices.

Obviously, it is possible to get more money off new builds.. As an example, i think i got more off than others because the builder was approaching end of year and i bought a house which wouldn't finish construction within that.. Also because i bought before Help To Buy really started picking up steam.

Naturally, you'll also get more off if your house is largely overpriced compared to the open market houses.

The % of discount means nothing really, it's the price in relation to open market housing of similar size in the same location / radius. Lets face it, you could get a 40% discount but if it was still priced 10% higher than houses in the surrounding area, it's a pretty poor discount.. But if you get 3-4% off and it brings it down to the same, you've worked out a fair price.

Remember though, price isn't everything and you don't need to always hunt for the best deal of the century. It is after all a home and you've got to live in it, so achieving a 'fair and balanced' price should always be the priority. If you can do both, it's a bonus.