New Homes: Experts welcome key factors driving sales

The waiver of connection charges to developers is among the factors accelerating new home sales, say leading estate agents

New home sales are increasing this year, helped by the waiver of connection charges to developers, among other factors.

Water connection charges waiver a boost to construction costs

One factor that has been helping to increase supply and make new homes more affordable is the waiver of connection charges to developers that was extended earlier this year by Irish Water.

Even more crucially, according to a number of auctioneers, it means that the houses are getting built in the first place, with one more box ticked for developers ahead of time.

“It has certainly helped to get more product onto the market,” says Paul Hannon. “It has definitely got more activity on site. The Planning and Development Bill is at the latter stages before becoming legislation and that’s something that will change the planning system and help to get more houses built.” 

 “I would certainly see the connection of services as one of the main hold-ups on site and delays in handing over a property,” says Elizabeth Hegarty, Associate Director at Savills in Cork. “I would say that it remains a challenge in new homes but we’ve definitely seen more sites commencing as a result of the water charge waiver.” 

More affordable housing taking up the slack 

“In terms of making more and more houses affordable for people, the First Homes Scheme has definitely been a game changer,” says Paul Hannon, who adds that the increase in supply of affordable housing through the Government’s Affordable Housing initiative has also become a tangible factor in the equation.

“We’re definitely seeing more and more affordable housing schemes coming on line through the local authorities,” says Paul.

“We’ve had the pleasure of working on two schemes under the Affordable Purchase Scheme with the Council this year,” says Elizabeth Hegarty, Associate Director at Savills New Homes in Cork. “We’ve had over 140 houses sale agreed under that model, which is really great.” 

 New home snag list 

 Buying a new home and getting yourself prepared for occupying it constitute a major step in one’s life, so there’s certainly no harm in double checking everything before you step into your own home for the first time.

Going through a snag list is an important step in the process. You can either draw up your own based on a mixture of common sense, legal advice and maybe a bit of parental advice. Alternatively, there are a number of companies in the marketplace who are specialised in preparing such a list to cover all bases. 

Because these are people who do it professionally, they are in a position to provide very sound advice on the matter and the fee may be money well spent in the greater scheme of things.

“Your engineer will provide the main list of issues to be aware of, but the snag list covers a lot of other smaller things,” says IPAV CEO Pat Davitt. “They may small items but they add up to a lot of things when you add them all up together, so it is an important service.” 

 “Any solicitor would insist on having a snag list,” says Rachael O’Leary, Associate Director at Sherry Fitzgerald New Homes. “This would normally be carried out by the engineer, but most people will try to get a detailed snag list covering everything. There are people who provide this as a separate service and it can be quite difficult to get a snagger at the moment because they’re so busy.” 

 In arranging someone to do your snag list for you, be prepared to pay a couple of hundred euros for the service. It’s also important to let the foreman know in advance and discuss it with him to ensure that they are available and willing to cooperate with the snagger. However, it need not be something to hold up the process.

“Most of the time, a solicitor will have a ready go-to list for a buyer’s snag list and we also have a standard snag list that we provide to First Time Buyers,” says Rachael O’Leary.