Sociology professor Walter Weyns (University of Antwerp) told this at least some time ago in an article on De Standaard. The moment you build or buy a house, you naturally assume that you will live there for a longer period of time, but you never know what the future will bring. Furthermore, it is certain that you will ever sell or give away the home. In that case, it will be easier to sleep soundly if you know that you have made a good investment and that the house will bring you as much profit as possible at that time. From that perspective, in this article, we will look at some of the differences between new construction and renovation.
The choice between new construction or renovation is not an easy one and each option has advantages and disadvantages. We discuss them in full in our “ build or rebuild ” info guide that you can download at the bottom of the page.
The Highest Sales Value At The End Of The Run
We focus here on the long-term pros and cons, so we should focus primarily on the resale value of the home. After all, the choice you make now, between building or renovating, will have a major impact on the value of the final sale.
In a normal renovation, the age of the house continues to play a major role. The older a house gets, the more budget you have to set aside to solve problems. Suppose you start renovating a house that is 20 years old now and then lives happily in it for 20 years. At that moment, an opportunity presents itself, causing you to move with your family. When you put the house up for sale, she is now 40 years old. The prospective buyer of your home will have to foresee at the very least thorough refurbishment work, possibly a major renovation. This deters many buyers.
On the other hand, if you had chosen a new-build home, the house would be only 20 years old. It can then compete much more easily with the other homes that your future buyer is considering. The materials that you will use for your new construction will still be in much better condition, provide better insulation, and in many ways be more attractive to new buyers.
Budget To Remodel
The only real disadvantage to new construction is that you already have to provide a larger budget, but that pays for itself more easily at the end of the journey than the budget that you would spread over several years with a normal renovation. Just think of a cheaper energy bill, no maintenance costs for the first 10 years, a higher value in the event of a sale, and so on.
Even if you were to leave the house temporarily, for example, to move abroad for a few years, the house will yield a much higher rental yield than a renovated, older house.
Moisture and insulation problems, two major challenges, are much less common with new construction than with a renovation or conversion. Furthermore, during a renovation, you are always attached to the existing structure of the house. Problems with the foundation or a load-bearing structure are not resolved. In winter, an older home will feel “chilly” more quickly and will be more expensive to heat. A new building has a much more pleasant indoor climate.
If it is the sales value at the end of the journey that is most decisive for you, then new construction is the big winner.
Of course, there are other factors, which we discuss in our “build or rebuild” info guide that you can download below.