What new construction genuinely gives you
Current building code, which in practice means better insulation, better fire separation, modern electrical capacity, and mechanical systems with a full service life ahead of them. On running cost alone this is a real and continuing difference.
It also means no deferred maintenance. In a period building, someone eventually pays for the roof and the heating plant. In a new building, that someone is not you for a long time.
And it means warranty. New construction carries builder warranties that resale simply does not.
What you give up
Character, mostly, and often proportion. A Victorian bowfront has ceiling heights and window sizes that current cost structures make difficult to reproduce. Some of what people love about Boston housing stock is genuinely not being built any more.
You also give up certainty about the neighbours. In a newly delivered building, the owners' association has no track record, no reserve history, and no established culture. That settles over a few years, but early on it is unknown.
The questions worth asking about a new building
Who built it, and what else have they built? A developer with delivered projects you can go and look at is a materially different proposition from one without.
What is the warranty, in writing, and who honours it? What is the reserve study and the initial funding? Is the developer retaining any units, which aligns their interest with the building's long-term condition?
And plainly: what is the mechanical specification? All-electric heat pumps, the quality of the windows, the wall assembly. These decide your bills for the next twenty years and are almost never in the listing.
- Developer's completed track record
- Written warranty terms and who honours them
- Reserve study and initial funding level
- Whether the developer retains units
- Mechanical and envelope specification
Buying before it is finished
Pre-construction and pre-delivery purchases usually price below the finished product, which is the compensation for taking delivery risk and for buying something you cannot stand in.
Read the timeline commitments carefully and understand what happens if delivery slips, because sometimes it does. Understand what is specification and what is illustrative in the marketing material. And see other completed work by the same builder before committing.
How we think about it
We build, so our bias is obvious and worth stating. But the honest answer is that neither is better in the abstract. A well-maintained period building in a settled association is an excellent purchase. So is a well-built new unit from a developer who will still be reachable in three years.
The distinction that actually matters is not new versus old. It is well-built versus not, and that requires someone who can tell the difference on a walkthrough.
