Why do people buy Persimmon / Barratt / New-built houses ?

hazyjo

woodsford said:

A bit of background, there are a few new homes (such as Persimmon / Barratt) being built near to the area I live in and we have read the following:


1) They don't look like they were built with good materials and look as if they could fall apart easily.

2) They're priced well above what nice old houses go for around here. Around £60k or more - plus these nice old houses tend to have more space internally and externally.

3) They tend to age quickly and lose value if you sell it 3+ years down the line.

4) The space inside is quite cramped and garden tend to be small.

5) Lots of reviews on here and online about issues with Persimmon / new built homes.

6) These homes are being built on floodplains and they get flooded almost every 2 years



Excuse me for the direct question - why do people still buy these homes?



Possible answers in my head:

1) People cannot afford older houses therefore resort to Help to Buy as it is the only way for them to get on the ladder?

2) Inexperienced / not having done their own due dilgence?

3) Prefer to live in a brand new house?

4) Status thing? 

1. What were they being built with then? Are you a builder?

2. You usually pay a premium for most new builds. It's all brand new which some people prefer. Hence the price hike.

3. Not sure what you  mean by "age quickly". It's not so much that they lose value, just that they're obviously no longer new once you've lived in it. The shiny premium is therefore no longer valid. Nobody should be buying a new build if they want to move in 2-3 years' time.

4. Cramped? Not always. Depends on price bracket. Gardens are often smaller than older properties, but not everyone wants a big garden.

5. Great. People can form their own opinions from them.

6. Occasionally. Certainly not all. Same as older houses then really.

----

I much prefer older houses. Mine's Edwardian and 99% of my properties were old. But I did live in an 8 year old townhouse once. Rooms were good sizes. I really miss all the space. Was also nice having things like loads of plug sockets, things that worked and you didn't have to worry about anything (I currently have flickering lights when I turn them on downstairs in two rooms), and practical spaces. It felt incredibly solid and soundproofing was good. The garden was prob 40'. Big enough for me. Four beds. Biggest bedroom was 18 x 11.1. Smallest was 10.4 x 8.10. Prob much bigger than older houses, not to mention built in wardrobes, en suite, dressing room area, etc. Two garages plus 2 parking spaces, it was a nice house. REALLY nice. It's extremely rare that I'd like a new build though. I certainly wouldn't want a small one. The big ones can be lovely. Only lived there 2 years (divorced).

[Deleted User]

The idea that all new builds are terrible quality and only idiots (I saw the word stupidity mentioned above) buy them is basically a deeply-rooted British cultural belief that doesn't have much to do with the actual houses themselves.

Of course some new builds are genuinely poor quality, but in a given area where people have a limited choice of houses in their price range it's just nonsense to think that the older properties are by default going to be the better option. When I was house hunting a few years ago most of the older properties we saw had far more problems than a typical new build.

I also feel like this gets caught up in questions of taste - there's this right-thinking superiority complex that comes with saying older houses are better because they're more appealing to architectural snobs who bemoan the spread of identikit buildings that have no "character", but when you have two kids on an average salary and just want a place to live you probably couldn't care less about "character" and just want something that meets your needs. We shouldn't be scoffing at that.

tinytiddles

We bought a new build mainly because we wanted to live in a home where no-one had ever lived before. Our home wasn’t overpriced in fact we were a bit surprised at the asking price compared to existing builds of the same size in the local area.  

Don’t believe all of the negative stories about new builds, it really is the exception rather than the rule - there are around 600 homes on my development so far and very few have had major issues (believe me, you know about it when they do, it’s all over Facebook!) and the three developers on site have been excellent at resolving snags in any case.

Ramouth

I’m buying an older property and do love a bit of cottage charm.  I would have bought a nice new energy efficient home if I could though.  The main issue for me was that new builds are not being built in the location I want to live in.

JamoLew

New houses tend to have:

Good insulation
Modern double glazing
Brand new heating system/boiler
Brand new electrics
Nice smooth, unspoiled plastered walls
Nice straight,flat walls and floors
Everything is new and probably wont need any maintenance for 5+ years

Old houses

For all their plus points - have none of these

each to their own

its like asking why does anyone but anything brand new over used

davilown

With regards to your costing, where we are, the new builds are actually more often cheaper than most of the older builds, so offer a lot more value for money.

eg 4 bed terrace ex LA for £450k, vs 4 bed detached £437k.

[Deleted User]

 
 Lived in a cramped terraced for 15 years. By comparison my new build is huge, cost way more than a terraced would have cost in Liverpool which are the only other houses in the area we want to live. 

 Like that you just move in, don't even need to decorate unlike many older houses which probably need work, decoration probably new boiler etc. 

Scotbot

JamoLew said:

New houses tend to have:

Good insulation
Modern double glazing
Brand new heating system/boiler
Brand new electrics
Nice smooth, unspoiled plastered walls
Nice straight,flat walls and floors
Everything is new and probably wont need any maintenance for 5+ years

Old houses

For all their plus points - have none of these

each to their own

its like asking why does anyone but anything brand new over used

Not true my 60 yr old house has all of these, it has been refurbished. 

woodsford

Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies. Some great information that I didn't know about. You learn something new every day.

By the way, we do not think they are "idiots" - far from it. We just wondered why they'd pay more for smaller space on floodplains, so I asked the direct question "why?" and some of the information above is sounds pretty sensible.

princeofpounds

gordon_harris said:

The idea that all new builds are terrible quality and only idiots (I saw the word stupidity mentioned above) buy them is basically a deeply-rooted British cultural belief that doesn't have much to do with the actual houses themselves.

Of course some new builds are genuinely poor quality, but in a given area where people have a limited choice of houses in their price range it's just nonsense to think that the older properties are by default going to be the better option. When I was house hunting a few years ago most of the older properties we saw had far more problems than a typical new build.

I also feel like this gets caught up in questions of taste - there's this right-thinking superiority complex that comes with saying older houses are better because they're more appealing to architectural snobs who bemoan the spread of identikit buildings that have no "character", but when you have two kids on an average salary and just want a place to live you probably couldn't care less about "character" and just want something that meets your needs. We shouldn't be scoffing at that.

You make fair points, but most stereotypes arise for a reason. In the case of the big developers, much of the money they make (most of it in the South-East and other wealthier areas) actually comes from winning planning permission on land plots. Building the houses is just a necessary step to monetise the planning gains, so there is little need to compete on build quality and that weakens the incentive to produce a quality product.

I've ranted about this on the forum before, but it's such a shame that it's near impossible for individual families to develop their own houses these days. Drive through semi-rural UK and it's wave after wave of soulless slave-box estates. Go to France, Germany, Belgium and you'll see a much better mix of individual houses being created, which provides really attractive architectural diversity and a better product in a technical sense as well, most of the time. Only the big developers have the lobbying power and money to ram through our ridiculously Stalinist planning system.