School fees, stamp duty and a new kitchen

Housing developers will do anything to avoid a headline price reduction

Berkeley Group

It’s the question everyone is asking. Well, not everyone. But for those in the business of asking it, it tends to live rent-free in their head. “What’s my home worth?” The coward’s answer, of course, goes “Whatever someone’s willing to pay for it”, while the well-groomed Foxtons valuer says “Same, plus 10%.”

At least you can rely on buying agent Henry Prior to tell you what doesn’t count:

• What you paid for it

• What you need

• What your neighbour is asking for theirs

• What your friends insist it’s worth

• What the estate agent promises

• The cost to rebuild

• What you’ve spent on it

But things have a tendency to get weird in the world of new builds.

Meep, meep

In an attempt to entice buyers to its Trent Park estate in Enfield, North London, Berkeley Group has devised a plan so devilishly simple one is half surprised to learn it wasn’t lifted directly from an episode of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

The developer has offered to cover up to two years’ school fees for the nearby St John’s Preparatory and Senior School, where tuition for the 2026/27 academic year reaches £5,850 per term. Throw in VAT (mostly because that adds 20% but also, you know, for the discourse) then double it, and we’re looking at north of £40,000.

Now, that’s a fair amount of money in anyone’s budget. But not everyone has children, or wishes to send them to that particular school, even if it is rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. For that reason, would it not be both easier and more attractive to a greater number of buyers to just… reduce the asking price by the same amount? Yeah, no.

I’ll do anything for a sale (but I won’t do that)

To be clear, Berkeley Group is far from alone. Offering to pay the buyer’s stamp duty, conveyancer fees and mortgage payments are classics of the genre, but in this lousy market, developers are getting creative. Some are offering to cover council tax, service charges, new furniture, kitchen upgrades, electric cars, interior design consultations.

They do this ACME-esque dance to protect the headline sale price. And like the coyote, they have their reasons: