JAMES NESBITT, star of the television series Cold Feet, has just moved to Herne Hill. To the excited local estate agents, his arrival can mean only one thing: that the leafy South London suburb is finally up there with the likes of Notting Hill. So it naturally follows that local house prices are about to shoot up as new buyers flock to the area wanting to share the glamour.

If only. Despite the fanfare that often accompanies celebrities’ moves, Nesbitt’s arrival says more about the way a housebuyer’s mind works than it does about the area. Like the bulk of British homeowners trading up, the actor hasn’t moved far: just ten minutes up the road from East Dulwich, swapping one Victorian suburb for another.

Despite the enormous costs, hassle and upheaval of moving house, most of us rarely move more than a few miles away. House-hunters start their search in their own backyard and about 90 per cent of house buyers come from within a ten-mile radius.

All too often, trading up becomes a matter of exchanging a Victorian terrace on a slightly dodgy road for an Edwardian semi with off-street parking and decent schools near by. Most people move to get a bigger garden, a better kitchen, an extra bedroom. By and large they stick to what they know. Those used to the layout of a period terrace or a country cottage will automatically gravitate towards something with the same familiar geography.

Seldom do house buyers approach estate agents specifically requesting a new house. For too many people, living somewhere new is an alien concept.

As far as new-builds go, elements of old snobbery remain. To the middle England mindset, new properties signify one of two things: new money or no money. Neither of which is desirable if you are looking for a new home.

Although the standard of both architecture and building has improved dramatically over the last decade or so, developments of identical boxy housing on the edges of small towns do nothing to challenge these views.

Many of the so-called luxury developments of apartments that have sprung up over the past five years have attracted huge numbers of investors who then let them out to young professional tenants. Most flats have one or two bedrooms. That’s a no-no to most families. And owner-occupiers often find themselves in the minority.

At the top of the market, there are penthouses with enough gadgetry to baffle Nasa astronauts. Glass staircases, revolving beds and walls wired for sound and lighting (as seen at London’s Canary Riverside) may tickle your inner James Bond, but how many buyers really want that sort of thing?

If we are truly to learn to love new-builds and covet them as much as something old and beamy, then developers, architects and planners alike must press a different set of buttons. Old homes have character because of the amount of attention and craftsmanship that was dedicated to each detail. They were designed by people, not computers programmed to match up the dimensions of mass-produced materials to keep down costs.

Small boutique developers such as Venture Developments prove that it is possible to blend together the best of ancient and modern. In some of its more recent homes, green oak gable frames and 4ft-wide oak doors combine with underfloor heating and a double garage. At Kinsella, a six-bed pile in Surrey, there is even a bottomless laundry basket in the family bathroom that allows linen to pass straight to the utility room on the ground floor, ready to be washed. And a heated boot bench to keep your wellies warm.

Homes like these aren’t cheap to build or buy. They are not going to satisfy the growing need for affordable housing in the way that mass-produced design from big-name developers might. Yet by simply being there, high-quality, individual and lovingly crafted modern homes serve to raise buyers’ expectations and, as a result, standards in the rest of the industry.

Unfortunately, most buyers still know little about new-builds. To many, the phrase “modern home” is still synonymous with 1960s bungalows because there aren’t enough top-notch new-builds around to dispel their prejudice. Too many projects are still being scuppered by the lengthy planning application process and nimbyism.

Tony Richardson, head of the new homes division at Lane Fox, an upmarket estate agent, says buyers who start off looking for period homes often change their minds after viewing a modern one. “They come wanting a thatched period cottage. But once we show them the new homes now available, many get very excited. ”

Buyers can only covet what they see. And developers will only build where there is demand. But until original, high-quality new-builds become a more familiar sight, they will not be at the top of many buyers’ shopping lists.

• Anne Spackman is away

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