Category Archives: New Homes

With the increase in demand for new homes being fuelled by the government’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme, demand is exceeding supply and house builders cannot (or will not) build them fast enough. As a result more people are buying ‘off-plan’ to secure their new home.  Off-plan is the term used to described buying (reserving) a new home before it is built, purely on the basis of the builder’s brochure, construction plans, specifications or scale models, rather than after viewing the actual property or even a representative show home. 

No show home, no problem.   Most house builders like to be able to show they have sold a few plots prior to the show home opening.  It can give potential buyers confidence and the impression that the development is popular or offers good value.  It is common for prices to increase, often quite markedly, when the show home is available to view, as buyers will be able to properly assess the quality and specification of the homes. 

“Early bird” or “up-field” reservations.

House builders normally release a limited number of plots at any given time, in certain order. This is because they need the development to be completed in a particular sequence, usually for pricing, presentation, access and perhaps safety reasons. “Early bird” reservations are not strictly the same as buying ‘off-plan’ as you are not actually buying or reserving a particular home, you are pre reserving a right of first refusal once the plot is priced and released for sale. Keep in mind that the prices subsequently released could be higher, as the builder will already have a registered interest in that particular plot. House builders like the early bird system as it gives them the best of both worlds: a list of would-be buyers ready to pounce as soon as plots are released for sale, whilst they can also take full advantage of any price rises in the market since the early-bird reservation.

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The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles has announced his intention to turn Britain into a “nation of house builders” with a series of policies offering tax breaks and subsidies to people who want to build their own home. He said: “We’re taking practical steps which will unlock the potential and will turn our country, which is famously a nation of shopkeepers, to a nation of self-builders too.” 

He said added that encouraging people to build their own homes would lead to less “homogeneous, pasteurised housing” being built all over the country. It is believed people living in the countryside will be less likely to object to custom housing than larger modern ‘hobbitat’ developments. 

Currently, UK self-building accounts for around 11,000 new homes each year worth £4 billion. The new policies are aimed at doubling this in a few years so that around one in every five new homes will be a self-build. 

Mr Pickles confirmed that more than 50 councils are making sites available for self-builders and 3,000 plots are already in the pipeline. Under planning guidance, councils are asked to assess the demand for self-building in the local area and keep a register of people who are interested in plots as they become available. 

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