New Development

In the UK Gordon Brown has set out a proposal to build another 3 million homes by 2020 to help increase the supply of affordable homes and help ease the housing shortfall. Property overseas is a young booming industry and much of the market is dominated by new developments as the housing stock does not exist. Countries like Egypt, Cape Verde, Morocco, Slovakia and Bulgaria have all seem an explosion of new build properties being built.

So why buy a new development over a resale house?

Buying a home on a new development has many advantages over older resale properties.

A new development means that once you have snagged the property you should (in theory) have little work to do on the place for many years. There will be the odd niggle, but you shouldn’t need to replace the roof for example.

Many new developments offer the chance to buy under market value by helping the developer, part fund the construction. In a rising market this could mean good capital growth. Buying earlier in the development will mean a better price and potential to achieve larger gains.

There are many opportunities to buy in a new development and they can take any of the following forms:

Apartments, penthouses, studios, lofts, bungalows, chalets, townhouses, townhomes, log cabins and villas.

When buying a new development in the UK or abroad think about your reasons for purchase. What is your exit strategy and why are you really buying this property?

If you are buying for a buy-to-let purchase, remember to do your homework. This mean looking into the local property market and seeing whether there is a demand for rental properties and what the competition is like. You should be able to get a good idea of what rental yield you would be able to achieve, just by meeting local agents and researching the web.

Golf, Ski Beach which one should you choose? Look at how long the seasons are for rental opportunity and see whether at other times of the year there are a different group of people who you could rent to.

Always use a lawyer/solicitor when buying a property whether its in the UK or abroad. Buyer beware (Caveat Emptor) as there are always operators in the market that will take advantage of buyers in a vulnerable situation.

Disadvantages

Some developers use cheaper materials and quality of build gets compromised for profit.