For many people, buying a piece of land in their preferred location and building their own new house on it is the Kiwi dream. However, this doesn’t come without its challenges – it can be hard to find and buy the piece of land you want, to choose the right building contractors for your project, and to make sure you have all the right permissions and permits, just to name a few!
For this reason, many people are choosing to buy house and land packages. If you haven’t heard of these offerings, or know about them and want a professional opinion on whether one might be right with you, read on to hear about the pros and cons involved.
What is a house and land package?
A house and land package is a package deal for homebuyers where they buy both a new home and the land it’s built on from the same developer. In most cases, you’ll either be buying a pre-built home and the land under it, or selecting a block of land and choosing the home you want to be built from a limited number of standard designs. House and land packages are a popular real estate option for many people, yet there are pros and cons to these deals that everyone should know about.
Pros of house and land packages
The biggest benefit of house and land packages for many people is that it immensely simplifies the process of building a new home. Instead of searching for an empty lot of land, purchasing it, and then searching for local builders, you can simply tick both boxes at once, often with one point of contact throughout the whole process.
Due to the simplicity of the process, and because the developer is ready to go on the build, house and land packages also normally come at a fixed price, and can be delivered within a set timeframe.
Furthermore, house and land packages are increasingly popular because they offer savings over other methods of buying land and building a new house. Developers are able to buy the land as a package, so it’s cheap to sell pieces of it individually, and building multiple houses at the same time can keep the cost of building to a minimum.
Cons of house and land packages
A major downside to house and land packages – for most people, at least – will be the location; developers buy large lots of land to make subdividing it economical, so normally they have to look on the outskirts of cities to find locations that work for these kinds of packages. This means you’ll likely be living far away from your dream location, and may not be close to schools, shopping centres, or your work.
Because they are subdivided pieces sections, house and land packages can also come in small lot sizes that don’t give you much space outdoors, and place your neighbours very close by. In the short run, these homes will also have a lower yield, as home values in outer suburban areas tend to rise in value at a slower pace – especially those in new developments.
Another point to consider with house and land packages is that there’s often less room for customisation, so you may not be able to build your exact, ideal home, but have to settle for a more standard or generic house.
What are you missing out on?
Of course, you can choose to avoid these problems by buying a piece of land and having your ideal house built on it. In this case, the team at Smartway Builders can help with everything – we’re some of the most reliable and experienced house builders Wellington has to offer. We specialise in helping you create your dream home, so if you’re looking for a better alternative to restrictive house and land packages, get in contact with our team today and take the first step toward building your future home!
