What buyers want most

The trends in new house design that will make you want to build new, writes CATHERINE SMITH

Whether you’re building your dream home from scratch, or making your choice from house and land packages, a new house offers possibilities not possible in a renovation.

How do you sort out what’s good about a design that will make your scratch-built house work for you.

Dr David Turner, senior lecturer at Unitec’s school of architecture, says that as we build more high-density neighbourhoods, good design becomes more important.

Turner points to Auckland examples of good group builds that are nearing 20 years of age, such as Beaumont Quarter. But he’d like to see more good examples in a mix of neighbourhoods, not just luxury inner city developments.

“The problem is finding really good housing that understands density at $500,000-$600,000 prices.”

New builds are also the best way to achieve sustainability, Turner says. He is unimpressed with New Zealand’s current building code that specifies such low standards. “Here, we have an insulating factor of R3.2,” he says. “In England, that figure is 11, in Germany 12-14, in Sweden 16.”

He’d also like to see smaller footprint homes with better design.

But Michelle Costello, who with her husband Vincent owns Jennian Homes Franklin, says their customers don’t seem to want to sacrifice square footage for higher quality design.

However, better design is inevitably being driven by new master-planned townships demanding a higher level of design. Buyers appreciate new subdivisions that have a masterplanned vision. “It’s buying into a community,” she says.

Only a few of her customers are asking for sustainable ecofeatures; most prefer to allocate their budgets to visible features.

While pre-wiring for electric vehicle charging or solar panels is starting to appear, she says, customers are not aware of the Green Building Council Homestar ratings for sustainable performance.

Up-sizing of master suites is a big trend, she says, with people looking for retreat space or sitting room ( that could also become a nursery for younger families), with big showers and freestanding baths in the en suite bathroom.

Architect James Wallace of Studio Pacific designed one of Auckland’s best known master planned communities, Hobsonville Pt. But, like Costello, he says customer demand for sustainable features has not reached tipping point yet.

“Clients are aware of the issue, but not ready to ask for sustainable [features],” he says. “They think it aspirational, and that the better design or technology has a penalty cost. Even though, if you do the sums, they’d be financially better off.”

Wallace agrees with Jennian’s Costello that most new home buyers would rather spend their money on second living rooms or sculleries, rather than up-speccing insulation to lower the lifetime running costs of a house.

Both he and Turner think that new building is due for a radical change.

“New Zealand are late adopters of building innovation, we’re 20, 30, even 50 years behind. But we can fight the fight and present new evidence to clients to sell at the science level,” says Wallace.