New Build + Shared Ownership + Coronavirus. Should I buy now?

joegewa

My wife and I are in a position to buy 75% of new build property through shared ownership. We both have healthy help to buy ISAs and a mortgage illustration. We have viewed and chosen the property and expect to be asked to put down a reservation fee in the next few days. Everything is ready to go. Given the COVID-19 situation should we continue to go through with the process, or postpone it and risk losing the house we want? Are there and other options and would there be room to negotiate anything, including the mortgage rate? Thanks.

dinkylink

New build properties tend to be overpriced in the first place and I'm not a fan of help to buy so I think you'd be mad to put down a deposit atm with all the uncertainty. You could stand to lose thousands and/or not be able to move for a long time.

Why not wait a while, increase your deposit and in 6 months or a year you might be able to afford a property outright which isn't new build, but which is probably a lot cheaper/larger/nicer.

DCFC79

joegewa said:

My wife and I are in a position to buy 75% of new build property through shared ownership. We both have healthy help to buy ISAs and a mortgage illustration. We have viewed and chosen the property and expect to be asked to put down a reservation fee in the next few days. Everything is ready to go. Given the COVID-19 situation should we continue to go through with the process, or postpone it and risk losing the house we want? Are there and other options and would there be room to negotiate anything, including the mortgage rate? Thanks.

If you were to complete I cant see you being able to move in (well you could could but you wont have your belongings with you) until it all gets back to normal. Maybe you should find out what happens if the virus drags on.

ConfusedSeller

I'd agree with @dinkylink. In a lot of areas the new builds are well over priced anyway, and effectively you've got a 95% debt anyway, regardless of whether it's a mortgage or not. 

However, if you love the house, it's a forever home and it's easily affordable monthly regardless of whether something happens jobwise etc, then see if you can negotiate and take your choices

Thrugelmir

Is the site still operational? 

bucksbloke

Every house was a newbuild once. 
If you need Shared Ownership rather than Equity Loan - these new properties don't come up that often - so if you need that scheme I would take that into consideration.