New Builds

Apparently, new builds were meant to ease the problem of housing all the people in the country. You know, by making more houses us lot who don't own houses can buy, thus we're then owning a house and are sorted. Tick. I draw all of your attention to this section of an ad for a resale of a recent new build in Cambridge;

"***investment opportunity*** Convenient for Cambridge Science Park and the City Centre, this four bedroom, 3 storey town house, in Orchard Park Cambridge, has four bedrooms, fitted kitchen with built in appliances with a further two reception rooms. Being sold with tenants in situ. Investor info £4611 pre tax income: 4.69% of £98, 300 capital used."

It was build in 2009, and already is being rented out (hence likely just bought up from new build by a landlord), and now is being resold... to another landlord. Great. Thanks guys!

Sigh.

The new new-builds in Cam at the moment are either tiny one/two bed flats, or 4+ bed detached houses costing £400k+ Who the heck was needing these houses to be built! Certainly not FTBs. Although, I've just noted, on a Trumpington new build (4 bed for £495k), there's a little illustration about how Help to Buy works! Because I'm totally only able to come up with a 5% deposit but magically be able to afford a £371k mortgage. Facepalm.
A single option of a 3-bed is available, for £385k, but on the ground floor you only get one room as a kitchen/sitting/dining room combo. Not a bad size... but well above the national average for a 3-bed semi, and even epically above the price of some 3-bed semis much closer to Cambridge.

Seriously, who is buying these places and why aren't they building affordable homes, by which I mean at or below the local (or ideally) national average?