Las casas de las nuevas

Question

In my book, there is a sentence:

"Las casas de las nuevas son caras."

Why not "las casas nuevas" Why do we need "de las" in this sentence?

Answer 1

It should be las casas nuevas. However, your sentence is making a distinction where there is actually a choice being given between new and old houses to be had. You can say:

No quiero (una) de las casas viejas. Quiero (una) de las nuevas.

I personally would turn the phrase around and say:

De todas las casas disponibles, quiero (una) de las nuevas.

I hope this helps!