Sweetening the deal: first-time buyers are being offered huge stamp duty discounts, free furniture and season tickets as incentives to buy

New homes builders are wooing chain-free buyers with furniture packages, John Lewis vouchers and free Oyster cards.

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David Spittles19 October 2018

After the property bonanza of recent years, builders are on the backfoot, and it’s not entirely due to Brexit blues.

Buffeted by stamp duty hikes and the ending of tax breaks for buy-to-let investors, developers are struggling to sell pricier new homes and are instead wooing first-time buyers, who are chain-free.

Discounts may be in the form of stamp duty and legal fee refunds, furniture packs or service charge rebates. Some developers even dangle free Oyster cards, season ticket travel and gym membership as incentives.

But don’t let that stop you haggling hard on the price. If you are businesslike and have all your finance lined up, you may be able to get 10 per cent or more off.

At Forest View, Colchester, Bellway has slashed 10 per cent off the price of new coach houses, which now start at £234,995. Call 01206 853629.

Worth £14,392: a package, including free broadband and £7,000 towards TV and audio kit, at Fish Island Village in Hackney

Many first-time buyers struggle to find extra money to furnish their new home. For two in three buyers, it takes 12 months to do the job, while one in 10 new owners is still buying basics three years down the line, research by Santander shows.

At Windsor Meadow in Marden, Kent, buyers get £5,000 in John Lewis vouchers. Prices here start at £539,950 for a four-bedroom detached house with a garage. Call 01622 832576.

And at Fish Island Village in Hackney, developer Hill’s “hook, line and sinker” deal on three-bedroom canalside flats is worth £14,392.

You get a two-year service charge refund, a three-year high-speed broadband package plus £7,000 towards a state-of-the-art TV and sound system, or the sum can come off the property price instead. From £669,950. Call 020 3906 1950.

At Chertsey Halt, Surrey, Bellway is offering first-time buyers a £6,000 furniture pack, free flooring and stamp duty. Homes are set around a new village green. Prices start at £314,995 for a two-bedroom flat. Call 0333 202 5148.

Stamp duty refunds are well worth taking seriously. This tax is payable on homes over £300,000 for first-timers, so most in London pay something.

On a £400,000 first home, stamp duty is £5,000; on a £499,000 property it is £9,950 and on a £550,000 home it is £17,500. Flats over £500,000 at Deptford Foundry, a former ironworks being redeveloped into 316 homes plus artists’ studios, come with stamp duty paid. Call developer Anthology on 020 7526 9229.

At Trinity Walk in Woolwich, moments from the new Crossrail station, more than 90 per cent of the homes have been snapped up by first-timers. One-bedroom flats from £350,000 come with a £10,000 furniture and furnishings pack. Townhouses cost from £590,000. Call Lovell on 020 3131 8511.

Underground parking spaces, typically priced £30,000-£50,000, are an obvious bargaining counter. Perhaps the best approach is to ask the developer to convert the value of any incentive into a price reduction.

But be warned: a potential downside of incentives is that a mortgage lender may judge that the property is overpriced in the first place — and offer a smaller loan as a result.