Comparing New Builds and Older Homes

Thinking of buying your first home, upsizing to fit your growing family or downsizing now the kids have moved out? Whatever your reason for moving home, you may have reached the dilemma of whether you should go for a new build or an older home.

Fortunately, both are great options but one might be more suited to your needs than the other. That’s why we’ve prepared a guide that compares some of the most important reasons for buying a house and whether new builds or older homes do them better. Read on to make deciding a little bit easier.

Affordability

Although house prices are dropping, prospective homeowners will still be looking for great value in their search for the right home. Overall new build homes may work out cheaper for several reasons.

These include house buying schemes to make properties more affordable and older homes may need a lot of work done to them when you first move in. Plus, you can usually customise a new build the way you want it, which means you shouldn’t need to pay for home improvements in the years to come.

Character

Some people will want a home with unique character and you’re certainly more likely to get that with an older home. These houses have been lived in and have features from the era they’re from such as historic fireplaces and flooring, which can’t be recreated by new builds.

Location

It’s possible to find new homes that are not only great, but typically located close to everything you need. This includes great schooling options, local amenities and good transport links to other nearby cities. Older homes may still have all these close by but you’ll need to do your research to confirm this.

Move in time

Most homeowners will be aware of the lengthy waiting times that older homes have before you exchange. One of the main causes of this is chains with many people having to sell a home to someone else to buy a new one. However, new builds have no chain, which can take the stress out of buying and could mean you move in faster than someone buying an old house.

As you can see, both new builds and older homes are great options for homeowners. However, with over 125,000 new homes built or started to be built as of March 2023, there is likely to be more and more of these available in the years to come. This means that it may be easier to purchase one of these, which is great for those looking to get on the property ladder.