There are many incentives for people to buy new-build properties and particularly properties off-plan although outside of the capital off-plan sales are still few and far between, especially in the apartment market.

This may be set to change with Help to Buy however as this scheme doesn’t apply to Buy-to-Let investors, developers are turning to other ways to incentivise the buyer by offering to furnish, or part furnish the property or to pay the stamp duty or management charges for the first year.

From a developer’s point of view paying the stamp duty is probably the most popular incentive to offer, particularly for first time buyers where stamp duty is continually a brick wall for many would be buyers.

With stamp duty applicable for all property above £125,000, there aren’t many areas of the country where you can still buy a new home below that figure, leaving thousands of potential buyers having to fund that additional cost. A developer offering to pay the stamp duty probably offers the best value for money to the buyer in my opinion and removes a lot of the hassle and worry for most people.

For overseas buy-to-let investors, particularly in London, the offer of furnishing the property can be very attractive and removes a lot of the hassle factor so this can also be of value to the buyer, but always check the exact specification of the furniture on offer and be aware that ex-showhome furniture is usually slightly
smaller than normal furniture in order to make the rooms of a property appear larger when they are being marketed.

(This article is the full version of which extracts were used in a Daily Telegraph article titled ‘Buying a New Build Property: Developer “Freebies” ‘ which was published online and in print on 13th and 14th September 2013 – The full Daily Telegraph article can be found here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/property-club/10305006/buying-new-property.html).