Prospective homebuyers are concerned about the quality of new-build homes, new research has revealed.

According to the Chartered Institute of Building’s (CIOB) ‘New Build Housing: How regulation can improve the consumer journey’ report, almost a third of people (32%) would describe new-build housing as ‘poor-quality’, while 55% believe older homes are of better quality than newbuilds, compared to 21% who think new builds are better.

CIOB’s survey of 2,000 adults also found that there’s a lack of trust in housebuilders to build new homes to a high standard, with around 33% of respondents indicating they have a ‘low level of trust’, and 63% saying they are very or somewhat concerned about potential issues with new build housing.

David Parry, CIOB’s parliamentary and public affairs officer and author of the report, said: “Our research shows the majority view of new build homes is that they’re of low quality and this puts many people off from considering buying one,” said Parry.

“However, the reality is that quality has improved, and new builds are for example generally much more energy efficient than older homes as must adhere to more stringent regulations such as the Future Homes Standard, so have lots of positives.

“Our report is designed to provide consumers with reassurance that the majority of housebuilders are signed up to a very clearly defined and high set of standards while, for those who do encounter issues, there is an ombudsman to intervene if a housebuilder fails to meet those standards and doesn’t resolve problems adequately.”