1 At the height of the bubble, you may have paid a premium of around 15% - 20% for a brand new home as it was seen as more energy-efficient and all the fittings where up to date. This additional amount has been wiped of due to stricter guidelines for surveyors who now put a value on property as part of mortgage approvals There is now no differential between new and second hand properties.
2 This new regime came about as a result of fraud during the boom times. Occasionally borrowers did not reveal the discounts that they got and were given loans based on the full price. These people now have negative equity and their residences are worth less than there original price, even taking the discount into consideration. If repossessed, the banks will have a major bad debt problem.
3 Possible discounts, which were as high as 60% a year or so ago, are becoming less favourable as oversupply diminishes. The will only be approximately 75,000 new homes built this year — the lowest figure living memory. Construction work has commenced again on some sites because of the elevated demand.
4 Are discounts responsible for you contemplating purchasing a new-build? Examine the reasons why the property is unsold, small rooms, something that will make it difficult for you to sellor rent out.
5 Buying property off-plan is becoming interesting once again, even though the possibility bankruptcy in still prevelant for those who put down deposits on half-built apartments and cannot get the balance of funds together to complete.
6 The poor market has not slowed the popularity of self-build: approximately 20,000 people will construct their own home this year. If the price of your residence has fallen, your equity will stretch farther if you build a larger place than if you buy a completed one. The approximate price for a 3 bedroom house costing £200,000 would be around £160,000 according to the National Self Build Association.