Category Archives: New Homes

Over 20 years ago the Property Misdescriptions Act came into force. The aim was to stop properties being described in a more favourable light than the actual reality. The PMA has now been superceded by The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008.

Bloor describe their “Hamilton home as an “extremely spacious” (122 square metres – 1313 sqft) four bedroom home with “spacious lounge” (3.61m x 6.5m) with a master bedroom that “benefits from a fantastic en suite facilities and fitted wardrobes”.Wow! Bloor also state that there is “an additional storage cupboard on the landing” (probably the airing cupboard) and that “a garage and driveway are also included” Sign me up now!

The specification states “turfed front gardens”, but looking at the development plan, that is not a lot of turf! Nearly all the homes are virtually at the back of the footpath as is the case with most new homes built over the last 10 years.

As far as prices go a four bedroom “Hamilton” new home will set you back £399,950. Or as Bloor are keen to point out £319,960 with HelpToBuy, meaning you need to find just a £20,000 deposit and be able to afford payments on your £300,000 mortgage to own 80% of this home! A 25-year mortgage at 3% interest means you need to find a massive £1,436 a month, half of which is interest. So much for ‘Help to Buy’ Mr Osborne!

Share this:

New Home Completions and dwelling stock figures for England released

The estimated number of residential homes in England produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government statistics were released on Thursday 25 April 2013. The figures show that the estimated number of dwellings in England increased by 0.59% on the previous year to 23.1 million. This is the lowest annual increase in any of the previous 10 years and demonstrating not enough new homes are being built. 

This is split into 19 million private dwellings (owner-occupied and private rented) and 4 million social rented homes. The Social rented stock rose by 12,000 between March 2011 and March 2012.

Total annual housing completions for 2012 were 115,620, an increase of 1% on the previous year. The current level of completions is still 35% below the December 2007 peak level of 177,000. New Home completions fell through 2008, 2009 and in the year to December 2010 just 107,000 new homes were completed.

In the 12 months to December 2012, the majority of new homes started were in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire, along the M5 corridor from Devon up to Worcestershire and along the A303 route from London through Hampshire into Wiltshire.  

Despite falling over recent years the percentage of owner-occupied homes remains at 65%.

Share this:

Many are seeing the value of their new homes fall and this is not as a result of the property market!

Around a tenth of all owner-occupied homes are leasehold. That is 1.43million homes, 817,000 of which are flats. Leasehold is when the land on which the property is built is not sold with the home. All leasehold homes are only owned for the duration of the lease, after which the ownership reverts to the freeholder.

The maximum length for a lease is 999 years. But many new homes have been built with leases that are just 99 years. As owners soon discover, when a lease has less than 80 years left, the value of the home decreases. Properties lose around 5% of the value when a lease reaches the 80-year mark.

When the lease is 60 years or less, homes start to rapidly lose their value and become all but impossible to sell or re mortgage. Most lenders require at least 55 years left on the lease, with around 30 years left at the end of the mortgage term.  Many new homes sold in the 1980’s with 99-year leases may now only have 65 years remaining.

Leaseholders should look at extending their lease when it reaches 85 years. A lease can be extended by 50 years for a house and 90 years for flats. The 1993 Leasehold Reform Act made it possible for all leaseholders to extend their lease by up to 90 years and gives them to legal right to buy the freehold.

Continue reading →

Share this:

Three-quarters of the British public would never buy a home built in the last 10 years.
That is the finding of a 2010 YouGov poll carried out on behalf of the RIBA as part of their study into the ever decreasing size of UK new homes, now on average 80% smaller than an equivalent European Union new home.
One in four home buyers would avoid any home built in the last 10 years.

There are many reasons given but overwhelmingly the most common is that new homes are just too small and too dark.
There are also many other Disadvantages.

The RIBA Case for Space study found that buyer’s priorities vary with 69% saying that a high level of natural light was important to them.
A further 51% confirmed that room size was the most important factor when looking to buy a home.
Outside space was important to 47%.
Privacy to 49% and the appeal and look of the street or estate being important to 43%

It is therefore no surprise that the following reasons were given why those surveyed in the Future Homes Commission’s Report (September 2011) would choose not to buy a new home:
* Lack of storage space
* Lack of privacy from neighbours
* Poor sound insulation
* Lack of outdoor space
* Not enough space in rooms
* Small windows/not enough natural light
* Inflexibility of spaces for communal and private living or for future changes in the

Share this: