What Next For The New Build Flats?

[Darkman]

Just curious how a fall in prices will impact the builders & their "luxury" shoeboxes for sale. These poorly built blocks are not desirable even at bargain prices IMO. Will they cease to keep popping up once the 100% mortgages are muzzled? And what happens to the existing blocks?

Anyone?

[D12]

Just curious how a fall in prices will impact the builders & their "luxury" shoeboxes for sale. These poorly built blocks are not desirable even at bargain prices IMO. Will they cease to keep popping up once the 100% mortgages are muzzled? And what happens to the existing blocks?

Anyone?

Yeah i think you're dead right, slums of the future is a phrase i've heard, I was thinking that whilst looking at the adverts in one of the freebie london papers a few weeks ago, apartment block in Ipswitch 'city living' just looked like a tower block to me, we are repeating the 60's. I thought mortgage companies would not lend on anything higher that about 6 floors, but maybe that along with all other prudence has been abandoned.

I feel sorry for anyone who buys these places, eventually housing assocations will pickup the majority of these places and if you live there you will find yourself in the middle of a council estate with the management agents shafting you royally every time they need cash for upgrading, its so predictable its tragic!!!!

[House Or Home]

My wife has an uncanny nack of getting to the heart of the matter.

When she saw all the executive flats going up round our way she said 'it's the new equivalent of victorian slum housing'

I thought she was being overdramatic at the time. Not so sure now.

[Smell the Fear]

Absolutely slums of the future. You would be mad to buy one, the maintenance alone is crippling. The are mostly worth 25% of asking price.

Most have a thin veneer of class but that will wear off within 5-10 years leaving a dated, poorly built block in the worst location in town (usually beside a motorway, railway, industrial estate or rubbish dump).

[eightiesgirly]

Absolutely slums of the future. You would be mad to buy one, the maintenance alone is crippling. The are mostly worth 25% of asking price.

Most have a thin veneer of class but that will wear off within 5-10 years leaving a dated, poorly built block in the worst location in town (usually beside a motorway, railway, industrial estate or rubbish dump).

Not forgetting the 'waterside' developments beside disused canals.

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

Not forgetting the 'waterside' developments beside disused canals.

And prone to flooding.

[stonethecrows]

Well crash Gordon did say we'd have affordable housing didnt he-et voila....now they just have to throw in a free dinghy with every cut price purchase

Edited September 17, 2007 by stonethecrows

[MRMX9]

I rent in a new build development in a town centre in east London v close to a tube station - thank god I'm not an owner occupier! Virtually the entire development is buy to lets and therefore there is no real communal spirit and no common association to challenge the Council or management company when there are problems in the development.

Housing association tenants (I expect us taxpayers are picking up the rent) seem to be moving in on the lower floors. Our communal bins and bike sheds are being used by prostitutes and kids (of the HA tenants) are playing football at 11pm virtually every night in the car park which is shared with a superstore. Nothing is done about the local anti social behaviour even though our flats are opposite the newly fitted out local police station. The back door is always going kaput and came off its hinges a couple of weeks ago so anyone had open access to the development for two days. In addition our South African residents regard the communal balcony as their own personal dump and hold regular late night noisy barbecues but leave the rubbish for others to clear up (the smokey smell and stench in the lift of the transported raw meat lasts for days afterwards).

It could be a really nice development if more of the residents gave a damn but none of the owners live there and most of the tenants leave after 6 months (except the HA tenants and Saffas sadly)! At least I can move out when I want to and fear this will be a real slum in 10 years time!

[sunama]

I rent in a new build development in a town centre in east London v close to a tube station - thank god I'm not an owner occupier! Virtually the entire development is buy to lets and therefore there is no real communal spirit and no common association to challenge the Council or management company when there are problems in the development.

Housing association tenants (I expect us taxpayers are picking up the rent) seem to be moving in on the lower floors. Our communal bins and bike sheds are being used by prostitutes and kids (of the HA tenants) are playing football at 11pm virtually every night in the car park which is shared with a superstore. Nothing is done about the local anti social behaviour even though our flats are opposite the newly fitted out local police station. The back door is always going kaput and came off its hinges a couple of weeks ago so anyone had open access to the development for two days. In addition our South African residents regard the communal balcony as their own personal dump and hold regular late night noisy barbecues but leave the rubbish for others to clear up (the smokey smell and stench in the lift of the transported raw meat lasts for days afterwards).

It could be a really nice development if more of the residents gave a damn but none of the owners live there and most of the tenants leave after 6 months (except the HA tenants and Saffas sadly)! At least I can move out when I want to and fear this will be a real slum in 10 years time!

Which tube station are you closest to?

[MRMX9]

Which tube station are you closest to?

Well its on the central line just east of Stratford - David Beckham was born there!

[Daleroxxu]

And prone to flooding.

ahaha beautiful, just like venice

[The Eagle]

You've got that wrong: The Suburbs are "the slums of the future"

Only the poor will want to live there- because they will be cheap-

After oil prices hit $200, there will be an exodus away from anywhere requiring a long commute by car

see: http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index.php?showtopic=276

Not in London where even in the suburbs the nearest tube/train station is never too far away.

You probably never saw the London suburbs as you lived in central London, but I have several friends who live in zone 3-5 and don't have a car (not because they can't afford it but because they don't need it), so that argument doesn't apply for London.

The advantage of your own garden to grow your own veggies, your own roof to install solar panels on, the possibility to install ground heat pumps for heating far outweigh the bigger commuting distance when compared to a more centrally located flat, when oil will be scarce and therefore also electricity and food will be costly.

[CapeFear]

"As far back as the early 1900s, the cultural attaché at the German embassy, Hermann Muthesius, penned The English House (just republished by Frances Lincoln) in which he observed that we were "the only advanced country in which the majority of the population still live in houses".

-see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.j...european116.xml

And the average American lives where? I doubt the answer is a condo.

[nowthenagain]

Half of the new 'luxury' flats look eerily similar to 1960's tower blocks anyway. They'll go the same way. It'll be something for the kids to marvel at watching them get blown up. Our parents' folly.

[dryrot]

Just curious how a fall in prices will impact the builders & their "luxury" shoeboxes for sale. These poorly built blocks are not desirable even at bargain prices IMO. Will they cease to keep popping up once the 100% mortgages are muzzled? And what happens to the existing blocks?

Anyone?

Funny u should mention that - this hit my inbox today! In Tony Blair's constituency, too! Form an orderly queue, please.. :-)

(I take a sadistic pleasure in these come-ons - the're so 2005, and note the £800 p.a. service charge!)

http://investors.assetz.co.uk/property-det...0&mid=12196

Property Details - Greenknowles, Sedgefield

New Build Property For Sale» United Kingdom £ 110,925

This is an excellent capital growth investment, with completion due in September 2007, offering a range of two bedroom apartments on the outskirts of Sedgefield, Co. Durham, Tony Blair’s former constituency.

The two bedroom units will provide an instant equity of up to £20,663. Given the competitive prices and strong rental demand, the investment can give realistic interest cover from 106% to 109%.

We have spoken to local letting agents, who confirm that the 2 bedroom apartments will achieve £500 - £525 per calendar month in the present market.

In order to reserve an apartment, a £500 reservation deposit and our 2% finders’ fee plus VAT are initially required. Upon exchange of contracts, a 10% deposit is required, less the reservation deposit, with the remaining 5% due upon completion. Post completion, the investor will receive a 15% incentive return.

Assetz have secured 18 units on this development for our investors, with one parking space per apartment included in the price. The properties are available with a long lease of 1000 years, with a ground rent of £100 per annum, and a service charge of £768 per annum.

Edited September 18, 2007 by dryrot

[davidg]

The advantage of your own garden to grow your own veggies, your own roof to install solar panels on, the possibility to install ground heat pumps for heating far outweigh the bigger commuting distance when compared to a more centrally located flat, when oil will be scarce and therefore also electricity and food will be costly.

You can also cycle in without too much trouble. I used to cycle West Wickam to Hyde Park with no difficulty and a cousin does Croydon to Docklands most days. Ok not realistic if you are a 25 stone lard bucket - but people would probably use your blubber for heating when oil is $200!

I must agree about new builds. I watched with horror when a large Edwardian house of sound contruction was raised to the ground. What arose from the rubble was an indentical looking building made pratically of cardboard.

[PhoneyMcRingRing]

I wonder about the future of these too. Looking through the Warrington guardian there are a glut of them. All of them offering massive incentives to sign on the dotted line, £500 a month in some cases. Housing shortage my a$$! Would not like to be the owner of 1 (or many!) now.

[Loggy]

I was speaking to an architect about some planning i was thinking about and he said thet lots of these new domestic dwellings have a design life of around 70 years !!.

Add a lack or proper maintenance to that and they wont see 50 years. Ive been in some really shoddy 'New' builds, the walls cracking, the communial areas stinking because of a lack of care and cleaning by some tenants, I feel really sorry for any owner occupiers.

The only thing that sets them apart from the council housing of old is the tenants that pay their own rent.

Another thing with new blocks Ive noticed is a large portion of outside finish is often painted which looks really weathered and dirty after a year or so and dont get me started on the wood cladding on some sections of newer buildings which should be serviced frequently but doesnt get touched once the builders have left and looks real crap once it gets weathered.

[nohpc]

and dont get me started on the wood cladding on some sections of newer buildings which should be serviced frequently but doesnt get touched once the builders have left and looks real crap once it gets weathered.

I don't understand why the owners in these blocks don't demand some of their high service charges go towards servicing the wood cladding. It looks rotten after a while. I don't think I have seen one place where the cladding is looked after.

[stormymonday_2011]

If you want to see the future check out the Crown Heights thread on the situation in Basingstoke

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=21392

Most of the buildings are not even new. They are made over office blocks from the 1960s and 1970s. Pity the mugs who bought in these developments and now have assorted drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes as neighbours.

[Bloo Loo]

Can you tell me please--- what is an instant equity--- is it a discount that normal people wont get- isnt this a FRAUD-WHY ARENT THEY BEING ARRESTED

[Its time to buy]

There are still of lots of flats unfinished - will we see them left to rot in a few months when developers decide the market has dried up?

[Austin Allegro]

Definitely disagree that suburbs will become the slums of the future. This might happen in some of the far flung American suburbs if oil becomes prohibitively expensive, but is unlikely to here, as even post-Beeching you're never that far from a railway station in the UK (except in the far flung corners of Scotland, Wales and East Anglia, and there aren't any big suburbs there anyway). A healthy adult can easily cycle four or five miles to work (I do it every day) and I doubt if oil will ever be too expensive to make something like a two stroke scooter unviable, on which you could commute 20 miles with ease.

The growth of working from home will mean commuting becomes less important anyway.

I'm afraid I have to agree that the new build 'City living in Ipswich' blocks are going to be the slums of the future. They are cheap jerry built speculative housing which will be bought up cheaply by councils to house their problem tenants/immigrants etc. Some are already being used as makeshift prison accommodation. They will be like B&Bs in coastal towns in the 80s.

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

After oil prices hit $200, there will be an exodus away from anywhere requiring a long commute by car

In such a scenario we might also see a revival in public transport usage.

[Smash It Up]

I rented a newbuild in central Brighton and the overall quality of the building was pretty poor, even if, as somebody said earlier, there was a thin veneer of quality. I remember when I first moved in about two and half years ago, most of my friends were impressed at how shiny and modern the building looked inside and out, I walked past it the other day for the first time in about a year and was shocked at how grubby and naff it looks now.

Frankly, it was fine to rent for a year or two, but I felt sorry for the suckers who actually paid the £200k (ish) asking prices. These things would be fine if they were priced to match what they are - cheapo starter properties. If they cost no more than £50k to buy, they'd probably be worth it.