Anyone bought a new build recently - were you able to negotiate on price or incentives?

Blank11

The housing market has slowed down compared to the pandemic times and with the high interest rates. Now that it has slowed down and new builds aren’t selling as well, did anyone recently bought a new build and able to share their experience in negotiating for price reduction or incentives added in?

DE_612183

I was chatting to a new build sales person the other day - they said that most new builds have about 2% built into the price to give to buyers as incentives - so you should get at least that.

In my area new builds in some cases are hanging around - others are flying off - guess it depends on plots and demand.

ka7e

My Mum is due to complete on a new build this week and the developer started offering £1000  towards legal fees for new buyers last week. Queried the costs of some extras she has specified and they are replacing a built-under oven with an eye-level one + housing and including an integrated slimline dishwasher for free. Not quite £1k's worth, but better than nothing at this late stage.

Blank11

DE_612183 said:

I was chatting to a new build sales person the other day - they said that most new builds have about 2% built into the price to give to buyers as incentives - so you should get at least that.

In my area new builds in some cases are hanging around - others are flying off - guess it depends on plots and demand.

That is good to know about the 2%. I’ve read online people getting reductions and stamp duty paid along with many good incentives with upgrades. Maybe that many good stuff thrown in is a thing of the past. 

Blank11

ka7e said:

My Mum is due to complete on a new build this week and the developer started offering £1000  towards legal fees for new buyers last week. Queried the costs of some extras she has specified and they are replacing a built-under oven with an eye-level one + housing and including an integrated slimline dishwasher for free. Not quite £1k's worth, but better than nothing at this late stage.

That is really nice of them to add in extras given she’s quite far down the line! Some developers do seem more generous than others. I wonder if the bigger or smaller developers will give more incentives. 

[Deleted User]

DE_612183 said:

I was chatting to a new build sales person the other day - they said that most new builds have about 2% built into the price to give to buyers as incentives - so you should get at least that.

In my area new builds in some cases are hanging around - others are flying off - guess it depends on plots and demand.

What is this 2%, what they can give away without further authorization?

Because they certainly make a lot more margin than that. If they really need to sell they could do some very big discounts.

katkatmachine

It’s not recent but we bought ours november 2019, completed 2020. We got £5k off the price, the developer also paid our solicitors fee, and since we’re FTB they also paid the stamp duty, there was a stamp duty holiday at that time so we asked the developer to put the money for the stamp duty to the extras to which they agreed. 

MultiFuelBurner

There is a new house available 15 miles away in a less desirable area with stamp duty paid, £10k towards extras, £800 a month towards mortgage for the first year (£9600) plus a cash refund of £10k after purchase.

7% of purchase price 

Blank11

MultiFuelBurner said:

There is a new house available 15 miles away in a less desirable area with stamp duty paid, £10k towards extras, £800 a month towards mortgage for the first year (£9600) plus a cash refund of £10k after purchase.

7% of purchase price 

That is some hefty discount and money off! The area I am interested in the houses are meant to be ready to be moved in June so I wonder if that’ll give me an advantage for negotiation if they’ll need to sell it before then. There’s 5 last remaining houses. It has been up since January which might not be that long. 

caprikid1

House builders are keen not to drop the headline price but will reduce it with incentives and extra's, lots of options availble for the savy buyer but carving 30K of the purchase price won't happen as they will not want to be outwardly lowering prices when others have purchased at a higher price with less incentives.

[Deleted User]

Don't mistake extras like flooring or turf for a discount. You need them, they are hidden extras on the price.