New Homes, new questions: What buyers really want in 2026

Kate, to round us out, what's the sentiment amongst those people who have bought new? Because it is, yeah, a journey.

We've been discussing that.

But once they've done it, once they're settled, once they're in, how are they feeling? It's intense.

They do it again.

All over again.

And when we asked why, the sense of feedback we got was this peace of mind and sense of pride, especially when someone comes over for dinner and you show off their new home.

And they also have this newfound confidence that they've been through it once.

They can do it again fairly easily.

I think that makes a lot of sense because, yes, whilst you're in the thick of it and you're doing it for the first time, we spoke about information overwhelm.

Like you're just gathering all your bits and pieces.

But, yeah, like it's that saying you do it more, you get more used to it.

Yes, and

hopefully that journey will be a bit shorter the second time around.

That's exactly

right.

I think that is actually great kudos for new homes.

And if there is one takeaway here and something that I'm taking away from this episode is that, yes, new homes are back in demand, but it's just that today's buyers are more informed, number one.

They're more cautious and they value trust above all else because the stakes are higher.

So it's not that they're uninterested.

The reason that it's taking longer, the decision just matters more than probably what it has in previous years and in previous generations.