Buying a house next to a planned new residential construction site

jeslubur

Hi everyone,

Just looking for a bit of advice today.

Our vendor pulled out of our sale last week. We were so gutted as we thought we'd found our perfect house.

However we went to view a house yesterday and fell in love with it. Under budget, lovely kitchen, the lot!

We want to put an offer in but we've just been told by a friend that a new housing development is going to be built nearby with 93 new homes, and more planned for the future.

the house does not back onto the development but it will he happening in an adjacent field. I'm concerned whether there would be any distruption, additional traffic, etc.

I just wanted a bit of advice and find out from anyone if they've been in a similar situation.

Thanks!

C_Mababejive

Maybe you should ckeck out the planning application to find out the type and scale of development. Maybe the vendors have done this and thats why they are moving,,alternatively it might just suit you fine. Planning details will be on the local authority website. What post code is it?

AndyMT

i've lived near a development site.
it's not nice.
the noise being the most disruptive element; and you can't always close the windows to block it out. the vibrations from heavy machinery can still be hear heard/felt.
this went on for what felt like an eternity - it took about 1.5 years.
then just went i thought it was over, they started building another house nearby and all the noise started again.
if they are building in summer, you won't be able to enjoy your garden during the day - although they are supposed to stop saturday afternoons/sundays.
that's my experience.
then people moved in. lots of families with screaming kids.
i wouldn't do it again, but if the house you are looking at checks all the boxes, maybe it's worth the initial discomfort.

martindow

You mention that it is to the side and not at the back of the house. If this is currently open land it is quite likely that sooner or later that will be built on too.

Have you looked at the local authority planning portal to see what is planned and also how other land around the house is zoned for future development.

davidmcn

I would treat any field next to an existing residential area as a potential residential construction site.

getmore4less

As said check the plans, especially where the show house parking will be in the initial phases.

Those get built on last unless designated green land.

also check what the affordable housing mix will be.

check the access to the site and look for gaps in the builds to an ajacent plot of land where a road just stops that's for future access more building.

it can be very disruptive but once done it may enhance the area depending on the build mix.

even if not that close you will potentially have dust all over your house windows and cars for quite a while.

AdrianC

jeslubur wrote: »

However we went to view a house yesterday and fell in love with it. Under budget, lovely kitchen, the lot!

We want to put an offer in but we've just been told by a friend that a new housing development is going to be built nearby with 93 new homes, and more planned for the future.

the house does not back onto the development but it will he happening in an adjacent field. I'm concerned whether there would be any distruption, additional traffic, etc.

Of course there will be. There'll be a year or so of high levels of construction traffic and daytime noise - truck deliveries, daytime parking - while it's built. Then there'll be 93 house-fulls more normal routine traffic than there is now. Then there may well be more in the future.

Whether that's a problem depends on what you're after. If you're after splendid rural isolation, it's a big problem. If you're not bothered by suburbia, it won't be.

moneyistooshorttomention

davidmcn wrote: »

I would treat any field next to an existing residential area as a potential residential construction site.

Me too - if in Southern England:(:mad::(.

I guess that lower price than you expected has been based on the fact this will be happening.

I'd say it boils down to 2 things:

- How are you going to feel about it after it's been built up nearby?

- How long do you plan to keep the house for? If it's a starter house and you're just planning on a few years - then that is a large chunk of your time there mucked up by this. If it's a "lifetime house" and you still have a large chunk of your life left (presumably) then you might think it worth gritting teeth for a couple of years of building.

StumpyPumpy

As said by others, first step is to find the planning for the development. But the next thing I would do is check the Local Development Plan (LDP) for the area. These are the mid-term plans that every authority will have published on their website and gives an overview of which places have been earmarked for development, even before any planning has gone through.

It will also give details on the types of housing that they think is needed. For instance, a house I was once looking at had an LDP stating a declining need for 3 & 4 bed family homes and a growing need for 1 & 2 bed homes. Fast forward a couple of years to today and 3 neighbouring houses have been demolished and replaced by small blocks of 1 bed flats. The road is now full of parked cars as the authority's transport policy dissuades car parking provision for the blocks instead encouraging a cycle store and public transport. Trouble is no one seems to have told the new residents and the bus service has been cut to the bone anyway.

So what was a quiet tree lined avenue has become a car lined obstacle course. And more flats have been approved though not yet built, so it is only going to get worse. I have no problem with flats in general, but if you buy into a low density housing area it becoming high density almost overnight would be a bit of a blow. All of which I predicted after finding the LDP for the area (spanned 2006-2020 IIRC), but was otherwise invisible to the general public.

SP

JP1978

Too many variables for anyone to answer for you.

Your prospective house maybe cheaper than normal due to this development so you could, long term, make a good profit as at some point the market in that area would return to normal.

Depending on the area, the new development could bring new jobs, new facilities and new prospects for the local area (there has been so much development in the area we have just moved into, there is talk of re-opening a mothballed railway line and station).

Your possible purchase could well be in the middle of the existing estate, noise could well be shielded by the other houses but as others have mentioned, seeing the plans would help.