What % decrease in asking price would it take for you to consider buying?

IveSeenTheLight

carolt wrote: »

Also, high wage inflation then meant less falls were required to bring real prices back into line with historical averages (income multiples etc). This time round, despite high inflation, wage inflation is not keeping pace, so I'd expect nominal falls to need to be that much higher.

See http://www.hbosplc.com/economy/includes/18_04_08affordability.xls for each areas ratio in terms of affordability

carolt wrote: »

the monthly cost is STILL as high as or higher than it would have cost to buy the same property a year ago. So prices need to keep falling just to keep pace with rising interest rates, as well as falling real take-home pay - a lot more than 30% I expect.

I recall quite a few people have posted on here saying be careful, even with house prices dropping, higher interest rates may make the amount you pay having little or no difference.
You could end up with the house price ratio being back to the 3.5 times rate that a lot hope for but due to interest rates, the costs are still not lower than renting (in your area).
You really should compare the interest part of the mortgage to your rent as this is a truer comparison

carolt wrote: »

So comparing overall falls from the LOCAL area is probably more helpful; obviously national falls only tell part of the story, as results are frequently skewed by vast rises/falls in some areas, eg Northern Ireland, Scotland etc, out of kilter with the rest of the UK.

:T :T :T :T :T :T :T
Like I said a month and a half ago http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=898381, you have to understand regional variances and need to look at each area specifically for your own interests.
It's no use taking what is happening to the UK average as what is happening everywhere as some areas vastly skew the UK average.

P.S. Northern Ireland and Scotland are not skewing the UK averages, its areas where the properties are far more expensive.

carolt wrote: »

FWIW, the houses I'm looking at buying cost 200-250K until a couple of years ago, then shot up more or less overnight to asking 325-350K last year. We stopped looking at about 275, but won't be re-looking until prices fall below 200K again

In Aberdeen there are currently fifteen 4 Bed houses advertised at less than 200,000.
Opening the search wider, there are 74 in Grampian
http://www.aspc.co.uk/Search/HomesForSale/SearchByMap.html
Backs up your agreement now that each areas prices are different and will be affected differently

Good luck, I do sincerely hope you find the property of your dreams and within your budget

sarkin

down 35% for me and then start offering same as brit1234

LittleMissAspie

I'm thinking 3x my boyfriend's income plus our deposit would be a sensible price. There's nothing out there that cheap right now, but as our deposit grows and prices come down (and hopefully a yearly payrise too) we should end up with a decent choice.

littlesaint

A 25% decrease would allow us to buy a nice 2 bed flat in the area we live in at the moment. A bigger drop, might allow us to consider slightly bigger flats or flats in nicer areas. It would bring our mortgage well within 4X our combined income with a 10% (and we're almost there with that!).

zippygeorgeandben

FWIW, Don't have too much sympathy for these sellers by the way as they didn't purchase a place for e.g. 300K and if you offer £250K they are out of pocket by the £50K.
Chances are that they bought it at £250K or less and prices rose accordingly. If they assume that they are going to make money out of a sale, then they are sadly misguided.

Offer as low as you can (within reason of course, i.e. NOT a tenner!)
Ben

mr.broderick

sarkin wrote: »

down 35% for me and then start offering same as brit1234

A future bidding war already...won't take long for the maximum 20% drops to get back to peak levels with you guys fighting over them, can I just say congratulations to nadal for winning the mens wimbledon title yesterday it was a great final and he beat a true champion.

Gangstabird

I think you have to think about your own personal finances. Can you fix a mortgage on this house for about 10 years at a good rate. Is this a home or an investment?

If it's going to be your home, fix for the longest possible period you can and then you will ride out any storm if you intend to stay there for a long time. If it's a step up property and you are likely to need a bigger place in a couple of years, I would not touch buying right now with a barge pole. Good luck.

MrSafeGaz

It's a tough one really but if I could get 20% off of the price of a house then I would have to give it some thought. I will most likely just sit back and wait for the first sign of a rise again and then go and buy.

mr.broderick

MrSafeGaz wrote: »

It's a tough one really but if I could get 20% off of the price of a house then I would have to give it some thought. I will most likely just sit back and wait for the first sign of a rise again and then go and buy.

Hehe...Another bull trap victim....Next....!

Nenen

Thanks for all the opinions... some very interesting points of view. EA hasn't bothered to get back to us so I assume that means our offer hasn't been accepted. To be fair they did send us a letter confirming our offer (which also said they'd let us know once they had an answer). I'm debating ringing and offering our max bid of somewhere between £205,000 - £210,000.

For those who wrote about whether this is a home to live in... yes it is. We are looking for somewhere to see us through to at least our retirement (10-15 years) and possibly beyond. However, my dh has not been in the best of health so I'm still reluctant to commit to anything that might be impossible to maintain and/or sell if the worst should happen and he became unable to work. The cheaper we can buy the better.... not an easy prospect in this area!