Published: 13/06/2022 By Fiona Jacobs
EPC ratings are proving increasingly important to buyers, as new research indicates that new build properties offer the potential to save purchasers up to 50 percent on energy bills.The sheer level of buyer demand in the new build market has been evidenced by reservations being up 7% in the same period of January to March 2022 versus the same period in 2021.
The limited availability of second-hand homes within the housing market, with the situation being particularly acute for larger second-hand properties, has led to many prospective buyers considering a new build purchase as an alternative.
However, the supply of construction materials and a drawn-out planning application process for New Homes developers is leading to the supply of new homes declining. Indeed New Homes completions have been in decline for the last three quarters with a drop in build completions now becoming evident for 2022.
Due to the ever-increasing energy costs roofing products, bricks, and cement have all become increasingly difficult for housebuilders to obtain, in addition to the cost of production, again due to the increase in energy costs.
This has led to a situation where it has become increasingly costly for developers to build, this coupled with the decrease in the number of planning consents granted since the dizzy heights of 2019 is creating strong competition amongst developers looking for sites to build upon.
This, in addition to the problem of buyer demand and the hampered availability of new homes, is causing a real gap in the market means that there is a real opportunity to capitalise upon the potential sale price of the second-hand property.