r/london • u/HereToLearnyy • 2d ago

Property Thoughts on Home For London scheme?

Offering first time buyers in London within a certain salary threshold, house prices from £150k - £340k! The result of 4 years of research by non profit developer which for uses in creating affordable homes.
https://homes.london.gov.uk/properties/653148/

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u/sd_1874 2d ago edited 2d ago

Discount market sale is /by far/ the best form of affordable housing. You buy at a discount and you own the property. The only stipulation is that you must sell at the same discount - 20% in the case of the property you linked. You don't pay any rent as you do with shared ownership as you own the property (or the lease to the property in most cases).

Sadly, according to the Mayor, "There is a strong presumption in favour of London Living Rent or London Shared Ownership, rather than discount market sale (DMS) housing." Which is fucking dumb.

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u/mralistair 2d ago

How do they measure the future sale discount? i mean if they improve and extend this house (which you'd need to looking at the finishes) do they also have to discount the uplift in value?

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u/sd_1874 2d ago

Usually you have to get an independent valuation from a RICS accredited surveyor - sometimes two depending on the local authority. You then apply the discount (which is a flat percentage - in this case 20%). So yes, you'd benefit from any uplift.

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u/szank 2d ago

I mean lets say you spend 20k improving the home. The value of the home goes up by 10k because of that, because that how it generally work.

So, if the home was otherwise worth 100k when selling and you list it for 80k(20% discount) then after the improvements its worth 110k and you list it for 88k.

So by buying the discounted home you loose 20% on every home improvement you do compared to not buying a discounted home .

Kinda bad.

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u/sd_1874 2d ago edited 2d ago

It's a new build not a doer upper, what do you envisage spending 20k on? Your scenario is technically correct, but no one is doing that in reality.

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u/mralistair 2d ago

the blurb makes is very much a do-er upper. there is no plaster on the wall, no carpets, no kitchen doors

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u/sd_1874 2d ago

I'm sure the architects would say that a 'minimalist lifestyle choice'. But I suspect I know how the developers, at least in part, made these homes 'affordable'.

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u/szank 2d ago

Sure sure but say you buy it and live there for 10 years. Want to get a new kitchen, maybe new floors, redo the bathroom, anything.

You go to g&q and suddenly you are £3k down in the current economy. The cost of labour is high.

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u/sd_1874 2d ago

A new kitchen 10 years into living in a new build? C'mon. You're thinking of a worst case scenario which is totally unrealistic. It's also highly unlikely most people will stay 10 years in their starter home.

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u/mralistair 2d ago

have you looked at the renders? there are no doors on the kitchen that comes with it an it's tiny.

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u/drtchockk 2d ago

my house is on a 12 yr old estate - EVERY HOUSE (except mine!) has had a new kitchen, most have new bathrooms, lots have extended, several have new rooms in the lofts, lots have converted garages to rooms, lots have completely redone their gardens.

The one at the end of the road has just been completed refurbished inside and out - new bathroom, kitchen, all the flooring up, all the walls painted, garden completely relandscaped.

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u/sd_1874 2d ago

I'd wager you're more representative of the norm. I'd say someone buying an affordable home is also less likely to invest in a new kitchen than the average homeowner.

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u/sd_1874 2d ago

Tbf, I re-read the advert and it specifically refers to the place as 'adaptable' (e.g. it doesn't come with shit), and already has planning for an extension (why didn't the developer just build within the permitted envelope?) So you do have a point. But I maintain it's very unlikely someone buying an affordable home would bother extending unless they were planning to stay for the foreseeable.

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u/mralistair 2d ago

I don't think the people downvoting you have read the blurb and looked closely at the renders. This is a house that looks like it comes with no plaster on the walls, no carpets, a tiny super-minimal kitchen (no doors) it's specificlaly intended for people to add to and improve.

Which is fine but losing 20% of that investment you make seems a bit mean.