Who will buy these homes?

The housing market is in a slump where we are, nobody can sell or even get viewings.
Everyone rushed to buy before stamp duty went up and now is terribly slow. The government have wrecked the housing market. Sellers are having to drop to the price they bought their house for years ago and some even lower than that in order to sell.
In the Guardian it said things haven’t been this bad for 10 years.

Sarnia

Labour unveiled a plan some time ago to spend £2b on house building across the country so perhaps the development near you is part of that plan.
Labour have promised to move migrants out of hotels which costs the taxpayer £m's each day. There are thousands in hotels so where are they going to go? Maybe these houses are Labour's solution. There will be one hell of a backlash if it is.

I suspect the 'explosion' of applications by both private landlords and the Home Office to turn average 2/3 bedroom family homes into HMO's is in anticipation of siphoning asylum-seekers out of hotels and into the community.

The three bedroomed property next door to my brother was sold to the Home Office by the landlord, after he had, quite legally, turfed out the family who had been renting it. It has since been modified to become six bedrooms, although God knows how tiny the rooms must be.

Everyone in the cul-de-sac is awaiting the new occupants, courtesy of the Home Office.

In tourist areas (not just coastal) many new houses are bought by people or syndicates who then rent them out.
AirBnB is a growing market .
In all areas of England councils are paying for many private rental houses to house people on the social housing list.
Some of these have jobs and pay rent, some receive housing benefit.

Hundreds of new homes being built in my area some are social housing , lots of squashed together flats but the prices are high. £290K for a terraced 2 bed . I went to view this house. It was reasonably spacious and both bedrooms double , decent kitchen , small lounge . Garden of an acceptable size . Mid terraced so very overlooked and houses close together overlooking each other . But , I knocked on the dividing wall and it sounded hollow , it seems the houses are built with those lightweight breezeblocks , so the dividing wall is breezeblocks and plaster board . Immagine the soundproofing! Surely neighbour noise would be quite intrusive. The house I live in is 2 bed mid terrace 45 years old , the dividing walls are heavy breezeblock and brick because when I knock the wall it is not hollow . Neighbour noise is reasonably subdued but manageable. ( I do have quiet neighbours thankfully ) I don't think these modern fast built houses are very well built but when I meet someone who is living on the new estate I will ask .

Bringing *

Brown sites are often difficult to develop, especially if industry has been there previously. We have a small site in our village that once was a Victorian leather factory. It has taken years to be developed, a huge crater of earth was removed to decontaminate the site. It’s now four bungalows and a small block of flats. None cheap and all sold.
On the edge of the village are a two housing developments, all on land sold by local farmers, brining in more money than farming. All in high demand due to a direct train to London from a station 5 miles away.

Both my DC have bought new homes within the last three years they both have two DC each.
Since covid my Ddils work from home so wanted an office space, and less garden as they have no time to spare for gardening.
They both wanted low maintenance houses with good insulation.

I am on a small new development in a tiny village. Of the 7 houses, 4 are occupied my middle class retirees, one by a single semi retired man and the other two by young couples, one of whom has children. All are relatively comfortably off.
The same is true of development about a mile away.
And another about 2 miles away us having trouble selling and have changed to rental ... at very high prices.
The developments have done little to deal with homelessness among young couples I feel.

I went to the nurseries yesterday for some plants. It's down narrow country lanes on the outskirts of a middle-size, prosperous county town. There were at least four developments of new houses, like Barratt Homes, all looking like boxes with pocket handkerchief sized gardens. I'm not sure who buys them, at £400k for a semi detached. It won't be first timers at that price, average earnings aren't very high here. It won't be elderly downsizers either because there's no facilities or real sense of community. I guess it's the people in the middle climbing the property ladder, which we are so obsessed with in this country.

Same here. Huge estates in the countryside around Edinburgh. Expensive, not serviced by buses, schools or any services.
I know 2 families who've bought them.
A young professional family with 2 cars and a retired couple who have been hosting Ukrainian refugees.
The young couple say it's soul-less.
The older couple like that it's well insulated.
I absolutely agree.
The plans just gave a green light to developers who want to make as much money as possible.
Everyday on rightmove.co.uk there are dozens of identical houses for sale.
Meanwhile there are empty office blocks and factory sites begging to be converted into attractive housing by an imaginative design team.
I think there should be a competition to design something amazing and this housebuilding craze should be highlighted to show what's really going on.

The government isn’t building these new houses, the property development companies are.

Government policy is said to be build first on grey and brown field sites. My town has many such sites but it’s no surprise in our village that several planning applications to build on green belt here have been submitted. Our area is more desirable than nearer the town centre where ample green and brown sites exist. Houses will sell for higher prices.

So far, I’ve seen no planning applications for affordable or social housing, which is what is needed in the country.

I have just moved from London into a newish estate on the outskirts of a market town in Bedfordshire. The house is 5 yrs old and cheaper than my 2bed in London. Lots of young families around me and my GS bought a similar hse 2years ago not far away, so people somehow are buying them. There are 2 or 3 more estates under construction down the road but I think you are right they will be beyond the reach of many. I do know some houses on this estate are social housing which is presumably a clause in the planning rules so there is a good mix of people which is a good thing.

No idea who is buying Gloriana, but guess that the argument is that people are moving up the property ladder into larger houses and therefore freeing up smaller more affordable homes. Personally I belive we should be building homes which are actually affordable for those on the lowest incomes.

I think the key is “affordable”. We also have lots of houses being built on the edges of town but the prices are ridiculous. This is not a wealthy town - quite the opposite - and very few people will be able to afford £600k for a 4 bedroom house (nowhere near London or SE).

Labour unveiled a plan some time ago to spend £2b on house building across the country so perhaps the development near you is part of that plan.
Labour have promised to move migrants out of hotels which costs the taxpayer £m's each day. There are thousands in hotels so where are they going to go? Maybe these houses are Labour's solution. There will be one hell of a backlash if it is.