Looking to buy a new home? Well, new build homes are very popular these days, and for good reason! Not only are they the perfect blank slate for you to create all sorts of wonderful memories, but they also come with a range of benefits that you won’t want to miss out on. From energy-saving features to customisable design options, here are five reasons why buying a new build home might be the right choice for you.

Energy-saving features

Who doesn’t love saving a bit of cash on their monthly bills? New build homes are built to be energy-efficient, which means they come with all sorts of fancy energy-saving building materials and smart technology. Not only is this great for the environment, but it also means that you’ll have more money to spend on other fun stuff.

Home-buying schemes

Let’s be real, buying a house can be expensive. But don’t worry, some new-build homes can be bought through buying schemes like Help to Buy or Deposit Unlock. These schemes can make buying a new home more affordable and accessible, so you can focus on picking out the perfect wallpaper instead of stressing about your finances.

Design choices

One of the best things about buying a new build home is that you get to be in charge of all the fun design stuff. Want a neon pink kitchen? Go for it! Prefer a more understated look? That’s cool too. You can choose all sorts of options for things like flooring, work surfaces, and cabinetry to make your new home feel just right.

No chain

Ugh, property chains are the worst. Luckily, buying a new build home means that you won’t have to deal with all that nonsense. No more waiting for someone else to sell their house before you can move in, no more stress, just a smooth and easy sales process.

No renovations required

Last but not least, buying a new build home means that you won’t have to worry about renovations. Everything is shiny, new, and protected by guarantees, so you can rest easy knowing that your home is in tip-top shape. Plus, you won’t have to spend all your weekends painting and sanding and tearing down walls. Hooray!

At Helmores, we’ve got three fantastic new build developments that you should definitely check out: Weavers Place at North Tawton, Weavers Way at Sandford, and Woolston Green in Landscove near Ashburton. Give me a call if you want to find out more about these exciting new builds and start the journey to finding your dream home on 01363 777999.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Are new build homes more energy-efficient than older homes?

A: Yes! New homes are often much more energy-efficient than older homes. They’re built using the latest materials and technology, which can reduce energy waste and lower your utility bills. Many new homes also achieve the highest energy efficiency ratings of A or B.

Q: What home-buying schemes are available for new build homes?

A: There are a number of home-buying schemes available for new build homes. Help to Buy is a popular one in England, and it’s available until 31 March 2023 for buyers who applied before the end of October 2021 so you’d better hurry up! Deposit Unlock is another scheme that some developers offer, it allows buyers to put down a 5% deposit and borrow the remaining 95% from selected lenders participating in the scheme.

Q: Can I customise the design of my new build home?

A: This depends on the stage of build, and the developer. When you buy a new build home off-plan, you’ll usually have the opportunity to visit a show home and choose your own design elements, such as flooring, cabinetry, and work surfaces. Many developers also offer furniture packages to help you get started too.

Q: Will I be “chain free” if I buy a new build home?

A: Yes! One of the benefits of buying a new build home is that you won’t have to deal with a property chain. This means you can move in as soon as the property is ready, without having to wait for a seller to find a new home to move into.

Q: Will I need to carry out renovations on a new build home?

A: Absolutely not! New build homes are built to high standards and often come with guarantees that protect fixtures, fittings, and structural elements. This means you can move in knowing that everything is brand new and in good condition. Of course, you might still want to personalise the home to your tastes, but you won’t need to carry out any major renovations.

Finding your next property, be that for yourself to live in or as a buy-to-let landlord, can sometimes be a scary task. You are possibly making one of the biggest purchases of your life, and you want to ensure you make the right choice.

Buying your next property is all about finding a property with the features that match your requirements. However, what might be important to you as a homebuyer, might not be as important to other Crediton homebuyers.

Some features will be red line must haves, whilst other features might be more negotiable, yet understanding what your requirements need to be, will make it easier to find the home of your dreams.

Let’s look at my top 11 rules you need to consider when buying a property:

1 Location Location Location!

You can change many things within a property, but location isn’t one. They say you should buy a property for the things you can change. Go and visit the different neighbourhoods of Crediton. Don’t just drive through them, walk through them at different times of the day. Look at weekdays as well as weekends. Think about transport links with access to bus routes, arterial roads. If you have children (or your tenants may have), think about school catchment areas for primary/secondary schools

2 Bedrooms

Did you know there are 9,413 bedrooms in Crediton?

Well, you do now! Anyway, the number of bedrooms is a very significant consideration when buying your new home. If you need bedrooms for your children, the location of the bedrooms could be an issue. Depending on the age of any children, you might not want them to be a long way from the master bedroom, or if the children are teenagers, the opposite could be true. Bedroom size is also important. Is there enough space for children to study or have wardrobes? Do you need bedrooms for an office? If office space is required, you might want to consider a property with one less bedroom and one more reception room – and it will probably be a little cheaper. All things to consider.

3 Potential Future House Price Growth in Crediton

The type of house you buy will determine how it increases in value in the future. Now this shouldn’t be the main consideration, yet it’s important to consider.

Since 2001, the different types of property in Crediton have risen by different percentages.

• Detached properties have risen by 173.5%
• Semi-detached properties have risen by 193.2%
• Town houses/terraced properties have risen by 181.6%
• Apartments/flats have risen by 166.8%

On a standalone point for landlords, the level of rent and yield are important considerations for your Return on Investment (ROI). There tends to be an inverse relationship between capital growth and yield (i.e. Crediton properties with higher capital growth tend to have lower rental yields). If you are a Crediton landlord and have any questions on this (or any point), drop me a note.

4 The Overall Interior Size of Your Future Property

On average a person only views five houses before they buy a house and only spends around 20 minutes in each on a viewing. Therefore, I would advise that you have a good idea about the size of home you require before you start your search. If you have a big family you are going to need a bigger house obviously, yet you still need the budget to afford to buy the bigger home. A top tip for you, the general rule of thumb is the older the house, the more you get for your money.

One great idea to calculate the square metreage of your potential home. Ask to view the full copy of the Energy Performance Certificate, as it has the size of the property in square metres.

Bigger houses tend to cost more money to run with utility bills and council tax.

A final thought on size is the question of whether your family is likely to grow in the next decade? Will you have more children or is a parent coming to live with you?

5 The Price You Will Have to Pay For Your Next Crediton Home

In the last 12 months, the local property market has remained buoyant as people were forced to spend more time at home. Therefore, they looked for more space … but what did they have to pay for that privilege?

• 99 Crediton area detached properties have sold for an average £387,600
• 55 Crediton area semi-detached properties have sold for an average £287,900
• 71 Crediton area town house/terraced properties have sold for an average £229,200
• 7 Crediton area apartment/flat have sold for an average £111,000

Look at the property portals (e.g. Rightmove, Boomin, Zoopla and OnTheMarket) and search for Crediton property that is both available and sold subject to contract. Get a feel for asking prices of the properties that are sold subject to contract as these will give you a good idea what they roughly sold for. Again, if you are not sure, pick up the phone or drop me a line.

6 Bathroom(s)

Check the bathroom for water leaks. Do the toilets flush OK, do the taps drip? Is there any mould? And do you need more than one?

7 The Lounge / Living Room

You will undoubtedly be spending a lot of time in the lounge / living room, so it needs to meet your requirements. Do you need a dining area? Does the design and arrangement of the room suit your lifestyle (or your tenants). Will you need new furniture? Are there enough electrical sockets? What are the carpets like? That goes for all rooms.

8 Central Heating for your Property

What type of central heating system is present, and does it meet the requirements of you and the home? The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) will tell you how energy efficient the property is and how much it will cost to run. You would be amazed how few buyers ask to see the full copy of the EPC – yet you have the right to view it – always ask the estate agent for a copy or download it for free from the Government website.

9 The Outside

The outside space of your future home is also something you need to reflect on before you start your search. What sort of back garden do you want? Do you want low maintenance? Do you want a bigger garden?  You also need to ensure the outside of your next home is in great condition. Yet, if it’s a ‘do’er-upper’, does the price allow for those works to be done?

10 The Loft & Cellar

Another aspect to consider when buying a Crediton property is the loft (or even the cellar/basement if it has one). In both, look for water damage that could mean problems in the future whilst in cellars/basements, a musty smell could be poor ventilation meaning dry damp could be an issue. Also check for insulation in the loft (the Energy Performance Certificate will tell you if it’s up to standard).   

11 Garage / Off Road Parking Space

How many cars do you have in your family? Can you park them all on your drive? Visit the property during the day, the evening, and weekends to see how the parking provision changes. If the property has a garage, can it be used for something else?

These are my top 11 rules – yet do you have others I haven’t considered? Let me know in the comments!

When William the Conqueror invaded our fair shores in 1066, like all good kings, he needed to buy loyalty and raise cash to build his castles and armies. He did this by feudal law system and granted all the faithful nobles and aristocrats with land. In return, the nobles and aristocrats would give the King money and the promise of men for his army (this payment of money and men was called a ‘Fief’ in Latin, which when translated into English it becomes the word ‘Fee’… as in ‘to pay’).

These nobles and aristocrats would then rent the land to peasants in return for more money (making sure they made a profit of course) and the promise to enlist themselves and their peasants into the Kings Army (when requested during times of war). The more entrepreneurial peasants would then ‘sublet’ some of their land to poorer peasants to farm and so on and so forth.

The nobles and aristocrats owned the land, which could be passed on to their family (free from a fee i.e. freehold), while the peasants had the leasehold because, whilst they paid to use the land (i.e. they ‘leased it’ which is French for ‘paid for it’) they could never own it. Thus, Freehold and Leasehold were born (you will be pleased to know that in 1660 the Tenures Abolition Act removed the need of freeholders to provide Armies for the Crown!).

4.3 million properties in the UK are leasehold…

and 249 properties in Crediton are leasehold. By definition, even when you have the leasehold, you don’t own the property (the freeholder does). Leasehold simply grants the leaseholder the right to live in a property for 99 to 999 years. Apart from a handful of properties in the USA and Australia, England and Wales are the only countries of the world adhering to this feudal system style tenure. In Europe you own your apartment/flat by using a different type of tenure called Commonhold.

The average price paid for leasehold properties in Crediton is

over the last year £139,654.

The two biggest issues with leasehold are firstly, as each year goes by and the length of lease dwindles, so does the value of the property (particularly when it gets below 80 years). The second is the payment of ‘ground rent’ – an annual payment to the freeholder.

Looking at the first point of the length of lease, the Government brought in the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, which allowed tenants of such leasehold property to extend their lease by upwards of 50 years. However, this was very expensive and as such only kicked the can down the road for half a century (when the owner would have to negotiate again to extend another 50 years – costing them more money, time and effort).

Ground rents on most older apartments are quite minimal and unobtrusive. The reason it has become an issue recently was the fact some (not all) new homes builders in the last decade started selling houses as leasehold with ground rents. The issue wasn’t the fact the property was sold as leasehold nor that it had a ground rent, it was that the ground rent increased at astronomical rates.

Many Crediton homeowners of leasehold houses are presently subject to ground rents that double every 10 years.

That’s okay if the ground rent is £200 a year today, yet by 2121, that would be £204,800 a year in ground rent, meaning the value of their property would almost be worthless in 100 years’ time. One might say it allows for inflation, yet to give you an example to compare this against, if a Crediton leasehold property in 1921 had a ground rent of £200 per annum, and it increased in line with inflation over the last 100 years, today that ground rent would be£9,864 a year.

This is important because the majority of leasehold properties sold in Crediton during the last 12 months were apartments, selling for an average price of £144,135.

So, without reforms, the value of these Crediton homes will slowly dwindle over the coming decades. That is why the Government reforms announced recently will tackle the problem in two parts.

Firstly, ground rents for new property will be effectively stopped under new plans to overhaul British Property Law. Under the new regulations, it will be made easier (and cheaper) for leaseholders to buy the freehold of their property and take control by allowing them the right to extend the lease of their property to a maximum term of 990 years with no ground rent.

Secondly, in the summer the Government will create a working group to prepare the property market for the transition to a different type of tenure. Last summer the Law Commission urged Westminster to adopt and adapt a better system of leasehold ownership – Commonhold. Commonhold rules allow residents in a block of apartments to own their apartment, whilst jointly owning the land the block is sitting on plus the communal areas with other apartment owners.

These potential leasehold rule changes will make no difference to those buying and selling second-hand Crediton leasehold property.

Yet, if you are buying a brand-new leasehold property, most builders are not selling them with ground rent (although do check with your solicitor). The only people that need to take any action on this now are people who are extending their lease. If you are thinking of extending the lease of your Crediton property before you sell to protect its value, your purchaser may prefer to buy on the existing terms and extend under the new (and better) ones later (meaning you lose out).

Like all things – it’s all about talking to your agent and negotiating the best deal for all parties. Should you have any questions or concerns, feel free to pick up the phone, message me or email me and let’s chat things through.

…and the three reasons why it will not be the catastrophic scenario some are predicting.

In the last few months, the Crediton (and UK) property market has resisted and flouted every economist’s prediction. With the economy a shadow of its former self, unemployment set to hit 11.9%, the Government on track to borrow nearly half a trillion pounds to pay for Coronavirus support packages etc., all of this has had no effect on Crediton homeowners’ enthusiasm or capability to want to move home. It highlights the influence of both the emotional impact of lockdown and the enticing appeal of saving thousands of pounds on your Stamp Duty Tax bill.

For the last few months, the Crediton property market has been akin to a surfer, riding an unexpectedly large wave. The question is, will the surfer crash down (i.e. the property market) onto the rocks or will it calmly arrive at the beach unscathed? Well looking at house prices firstly …

UK house prices are 4.7% higher than they were 12 months ago according to the Land Registry, whilst in Crediton they are 2.7% higher

Looking at the data over the country, things overall are looking good for property prices. Yet it must be remembered the Land Registry data is on completed house sales and is always a couple of months behind, so this data is for house sales up to September that were agreed in the spring. Also, it does not take into account the prices being paid today on Crediton homes (as they will only show in statistics the Spring and Summer of 2021 when the sale completes).

Crediton house prices will inevitably ease in 2021

Anecdotal evidence over the last few months has suggested buyers are using their Stamp Duty savings on the price they are prepared to pay for the Crediton home of their dreams, so when the Stamp Duty holiday finishes in Spring 2021, we will see a reduction in the price Crediton properties sell for, as buyers will now have to hold back some of their cash to pay the Stamp Duty Tax.

Mortgage Approvals at a 13-year high

A better statistic to judge the property market by are the number of mortgage approvals. As the vast majority of house buyers need a mortgage, that is another good place to look at the numbers as they are much more up to date than the Land Registry figures. The Bank of England recently stated 97,500 mortgages were approved last month, up from the long-term average of just over 65,400 per month. This was the highest number of mortgage approvals since September 2007, and a whole third higher than mortgage approvals in February 2020 when we had the Boris Bounce in the property market.

As a country, we are due to smash through 2019’s 524,000 total number of mortgage approvals this month, despite the fact that the property market was closed for nearly three months in the spring. It’s vital to remember, that mortgage approvals do not equate to people moving home, as many of you reading this can attest to … property sales do fall through.

I do have apprehensions that many Crediton people, buying and selling their Crediton homes and in a chain, may not be able to realise the move before the Stamp Duty rules change at the end of March 2021, as there is a massive backlog with mortgage lenders, local authorities and the searches, chartered surveyors surveying the property and solicitors with the legal work, all combining to slow down the house selling and buying machine.

If you are in chain at the moment, you must constantly be talking to all the parties involved and ensuring everything is focused on getting the sale complete by the end of March. You have a responsibility to get information requested back in hours, not weeks … because if you don’t, you might not get your Crediton home move through before the end of the Stamp Duty holiday, and without that discount, someone in your chain may pull out of the sale altogether and the chain will break. 

The number of people moving home in Crediton is anticipated to drop sharply after the Stamp Duty holiday ends at the end of March 2021

And that is probably going to be the biggest impact on the Crediton property market in 2021. Yes, there will be a slight readjustment in the prices paid after March 2021 (as mentioned above) yet, a reduction in the number of people selling their Crediton home does not inevitably lead to a house price crash.

Yes, there will be a number of people who have to sell in 2021 because they have lost their jobs (i.e. ‘forced sales’). In the last two ‘Property Market Crashes’ of 1988 and 2008, there were a large number of forced sales in a short period of time (because business owners had to sell their home as their business had gone bankrupt because of the Credit Crunch, as well as people who had lost their job), increasing the supply of properties coming to the market in 1988 and 2008.

This in turn pushed Crediton house prices down as the property market was flooded with lots of property to sell in a short period of time. Yet this time, we have had the cushion/parachute of Bounce Back Loans, Furlough and Mortgage Holidays over the last 9 months.

Also, another important factor about the last property market crashes were the levels of interest rates and the amount borrowed.  

Interest Rates are the key to the future of the Crediton property market

In 1988, mortgage interest rates were an eye watering 11.5% and 6% in 2008, meaning mortgages were much more expensive compared to the 0.1% rate we have today. Also, with 77.2% of mortgagees with fixed rate mortgages, and only 1 in 21 mortgages owing more than 90% of the value of their home (and 1 in 303 mortgagees owing more than 95% of the value of their home), negative equity should not be so much an issue like it was in 1988.

This means most Crediton homeowners are in a much better place to weather the storm of 2021, than they were in 1988 and 2008

I foresee many Crediton sellers will simply wait until activity in the Crediton property market picks up again before placing their property on to the market. This means fewer properties will be placed on to the market for sale in the later part of 2021, meaning Crediton house prices will tend to hold up. The people that will be affected by less properties coming onto the market will be estate agents, solicitors and home removals people.

I also believe there will be ‘interesting investment opportunities’ to be had for Crediton buy to let in the latter half of 2021 with the potential changes in Capital Gains Tax regulations, although those won’t go on the open market, so do keep your ear to the ground and build relationships with all the letting agents in Crediton so you get to hear of the property portfolios coming up for sale (as they tend to sell ‘off market’). Again, if that’s something that interests you – do drop me a line.

So, where is the Crediton property market heading in 2021?

Well, the Crediton property market (aka our “surfer”) has seen a house price growth of 34.1% since 2009 … and this has been fuelled on the back of …

1. Ultra-low interest rates mean money is cheap to borrow and so mortgage payments are low. With the Bank of England pumping £150bn into the economy in November with Quantitative Easing (QE) to add to the £725bn they have already spent on QE since 2009 – interest rates will continue to stay low for some time.
2. There has been an increase in the demand for housing with annual net migration of 214,400 since 2009 (meaning 96,700 additional households per year have been required since 2009 just to house those people – a total of 1,063,700 households).
3. The average age of death has risen by 2.1 years since 2008 in the UK. People living longer delays property from being released back onto the property ladder. For every extra year of life the average Brit lives, an extra 290,850 households are required in the UK.

None of these things have changed because of Covid.

As a country, we have only built on average 165,100 homes a year since 2009. Supply and demand shows that whilst we will probably have a turbulent choppy ride on the 2021 wave (because of the economy) our surfer (aka the property market), with long term demand for housing outstripping supply since the 1980’s, will continue to ride the wave (probably not as large as it has been in 2020) as the ultimate long-term outlook for the property market in Crediton looks good.

All this means demand for decent, private rented Crediton property will be good as long as the property ticks all the boxes of the tenants. If you are a Crediton landlord, whether you are a client of mine or not, feel free to drop me a line to pick my brain on the future of the buy to let market in Crediton.