New homes are driving the ongoing property market boom. House price growth across the new build sector is running at 21.7%, which is double that seen across the existing sector (11.6%). The average price of a new build home now stands at £359,717.
Despite the volume of new build property stock on the market decreasing by 25% over the last year, due to the result of delays in the issuing of EWS1 certificates, buyer demand for new homes continues to be strong.
Available data indicates that during the pandemic, new build residential transactions only reduced by 2%. This small decrease was not triggered by a drop-off in demand from homebuyers, but down to glitches during the sales transaction process. Existing residential property sold particularly well as buyers took advantage of the stamp duty holiday, which also reduced the proportion of new build homes where overall sales are concerned
Number of new build homes for sale down 24%
All indications are that the current high rate of house price growth is to continue. Available new build properties on the market have now dropped by 24% since this time year-on-year. The high rate of house price growth is also having an influence on the new-build features that are most in-demand amongst homebuyers.
Buying schemes remain a priority for new build homebuyers
In the current market, the most sought after properties are those that buyers can purchase with the assistance of a buying scheme. Approximately 40% of all new-build homes currently listed for sale with the option to buy using a buying scheme have already sold subject to contract or are under offer. For homebuyers, being able to use a buying scheme, such as help to buy, is proving more popular than features such as private parking (36%), or gardens (33%).
House builders and developers cannot build new homes fast enough to keep up with the volume of people looking to buy and house prices in this sector are exceeding the existing market of second hand homes by a significant margin. Such a shortage of new homes is likely to see new build prices continue to rise over the rest of this year.
