Am I right to reject house next to new development?

Bad_Accountant

Hey all - cheapish houses up for sale but next to new building site for 995 house devt, am I right to say 'no chance'?

I'm looking at houses in the Leighton Buzzard area and there are a lot up for sale in one area north of town and being reduced. I wondered why... solved it when I found out while viewing a couple that there is a huge new housing development started literally over the fence from these houses and it is in its early stages!

The finished development will be pretty nice (on paper) - new country park, 'facilities' etc. but the idea of living next to a building site for who knows how long has put me right off. If we had to sell when there's a cement mixer and cranes right outside our back garden, I can only imagine we'd lose money on it. I also worry about the new housing blocking light and overlooking us oppressively.

New member so I can't link but the development is called 'Leestone Park' and the planning document ref is CB/11/01937. Link to the map is here if you remove spaces (https: //app.box.com/embed/preview / ug05g8kgrs9lk2th11iewe5ubies5r5z?direction=ASC&theme=dark). The houses we looked at were on the very south edge of 'area A'.

Are there any positives I'm missing or should I run a mile?

HampshireH

I haven't looked at your link but I'd run.

That's because personally I have no interested in my house becoming a lifeline to a new 995 unit development.

No interest in the constant rumble of site work for the next 4 years

If you can tolerate the above and its the right house for you. As in it ticks all other boxes go for it..if not join the others who have decided to not purchase

Doozergirl

It drops the value slightly now because of the concern, but it will increase the price of your house once they start going up.

Developers heavily over inflate their asking prices over the local area as soon as they arrive, and with a large development it starts to dictate the price locally in an upwards direction.

I've just watched it happen here. We had a restriction on development and a complete ban on approvals of new homes for years, for some reason. House prices were flat, despite that fact that you'd think there was more demand.

Developers come in for two big developments down the road and the price shoots because their marketing brings viewers and rest of us look cheap in comparison.

Are you out at work all day? The builders will mainly not be there. Show homes will pop up near the front of the development very quickly indeed. They will wash the street every day if lorries are turning up and they move pretty quickly away from you.

On the big development near us, there's no evidence near to the street anymore other than the muddy tracks, which get cleaned.

bouicca21

How long will it take to build? I bought next to a building site - only a small one - and it was fine. Like Doozergirl I reckoned it put a lot of people off but the hassle was going to be temporary. And for once I was right.

Bad_Accountant

Doozergirl wrote: »

It drops the value slightly now because of the concern, but it will increase the price of your house once they start going up.

Good point!

bouicca21 wrote: »

How long will it take to build? I bought next to a building site - only a small one - and it was fine. Like Doozergirl I reckoned it put a lot of people off but the hassle was going to be temporary. And for once I was right.

That's the problem, I can't find a timeline in the planning docs. The website selling houses for the first phase doesn't give any dates either. And when does a construction project ever run to time! :rotfl:

Lots to think about, thanks for the opinions so far.

FreeBear

bouicca21 wrote: »

How long will it take to build? I bought next to a building site - only a small one - and it was fine.

They have not long finished developing a brown field site within view and earshot of me. Only 70 or so houses and the noise & mess during construction was pretty low. The biggest disruptor was during demolition and crushing of the rubble.

AdrianC

So this is the complete development...
https://www.leightonbuzzardonline.co.uk/news/politics/299-new-homes-lined-up-for-leighton-buzzard-as-redrow-purchases-site-1-8235089

Even without that, it only takes a quick glance at the satellite pics of the area to spot the inevitable, doesn't it?

https://goo.gl/maps/BgJABp47e6Ydxz2M6

If there were no plans NOW, you can bet they'd be imminent in the current housebuilding climate.

borkid

Rather than the noise I would be more concerned about whether the infrastructure and services would keep pace with such a large influx of people. It all depends on what stage of life you're in and what is important to you.

Grumpelstiltskin

Almost 1000 houses, I hope the road you are looking at buying on isn't the main access to the estate.

Also the article mentions affordable houses, social housing? I wonder.

I know someone who lives in a similar position and since the social housing has been allocated the crime rate in the area has gone through the roof.

diggingdude

A lot of people on here will tell you that affordable housing shouldn't influence your decision. I would say it should. It won't be politically correct to say it but none of us want to live by those houses on the whole. I was visiting a friend last week on a beautiful new build estate. Guess where the cannabis smell was coming from??

AnotherJoe

The reason those houses are cheaper isn't principally the disruption, after all you'll probably be out all day when most of the work is going on. The old houses cant compete with HTB, LISA, developer offers to pay SDLT, and "new shinyness" and ability to choose kitchen and bathrooms. But if you buy now when they are reduced you could do OK when they come up for dale later, if its like most newbuilds, an older house will have bigger bedrooms, more space for cupboards etc in them, bigger gardens.
Main thing that would concern me, as someone else pointed out, would your road be the main feeder into the estate? OR, will your garden be overlooked by new houses. Either would make me would give it a miss.