Many homebuyers spend months designing their ideal home before looking at location or cost. When looking at buying or building a home in London, the main factor that determines whereabouts in the city that you live and what the house looks like is cost.
In this article, we take a look at whether it’s best to buy a house and move in or to purchase land and construct a home from the ground up.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both buying a house and constructing one.
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Finding the Right House
The average house price in London is £457,471, this is almost double the UK average of £229,431. The housing market in London offers some choices for buyers, despite the average cost of a home in the city being relatively expensive compared to the rest of the country.
It may be easy to find a house that suits your needs in terms of the number of bedrooms or the right location. But it is likely that you will compromise things like size and layout, along with the distance from a train station and local schools.
When building a house, you will have the freedom to build a house that fulfills your design specifications, in a location that you have more control over.
The type of plot that you can afford and planning allowances will restrict what house you can build. But with adequate planning permission and a suitable budget, you can build whatever house you like, fit to fill the needs of your family.
In terms of finding a house that is best suited to you, building a house is the better option. If you are looking to build a house in London, Homes Guru is one of the city’s leading construction firms.
Mortgages and Financing
Buying a home means obtaining a standard mortgage, which is easy to understand and manage. You should be able to get a loan based on your income level and initial deposit amount.
Once you find a house suitable for you, you will receive the funds required to purchase this home. You then repay your creditor per month, which is your mortgage repayment.
Building a house requires slightly different financing. Firstly, you will have a plot of land that you will need to pay off. Not to mention, you will have construction costs to cover.
Banks and other lenders will release self-build loans in stages. It is commonly seen that acquiring financing for self-builds is more difficult than buying a home.
Stress and Work Involved
The less-hassle solution is to purchase a new house. Buying from a home-owner or property developer is simple enough. Once your mortgage is in order, it is fairly straight forward.
The market for homes up for sale is easier to navigate than the land market. You may encounter hurdles when purchasing land and building a house, such as certification and planning permission.
also, when building a home from scratch, you need to successfully find an architect, project manager and bring other tradesmen on board. Organize cash flow to keep the project going… these factors are just the start.
For the first time home-owners, building a house can be a monumental task that results in unwanted stress with a prolonged time-frame.
However, despite it being more difficult to build a new home instead of buying one, the reward is much greater. Most homes in central London are apartments or houses with limited size.
Building your own home is incredibly rewarding and the result it a house that is built around your family and your requirements. Here is some more information regarding buying and building your own home.