Asking prices just havn't moved !?!?

phil_b_2

I check rightmove quite often, and when I come accross a house which ticks a few boxs my immediate action is to look at previous sold prices on that street. 99% of the time the house I'm looking at is priced right at the upper limit of historical prices, even those in the last 6-12 months. I dont get it . It's like the whole HPC is some strange myth where I'm looking. Maybe I'm just not spotting the good ones.

I know asking prices and sold prices are very different, so hopefully reality will kick-in in one big dollop sometime soon for some fast drops.

There is the occasional notable drop of asking price but it is always on a naff property.

I'm looking in the leeds/york/harrogate triangle by the way. 3-bed semi sort of thing. Anyone spotted any tempters around that way?

chrisandanne

phil_b wrote: »

I check rightmove quite often, and when I come accross a house which ticks a few boxs my immediate action is to look at previous sold prices on that street. 99% of the time the house I'm looking at is priced right at the upper limit of historical prices, even those in the last 6-12 months. I dont get it . It's like the whole HPC is some strange myth where I'm looking. Maybe I'm just not spotting the good ones.

I know asking prices and sold prices are very different, so hopefully reality will kick-in in one big dollop sometime soon for some fast drops.

There is the occasional notable drop of asking price but it is always on a naff property.

I'm looking in the leeds/york/harrogate triangle by the way. 3-bed semi sort of thing. Anyone spotted any tempters around that way?

I can sympathise with this Phil.....there are some big drops and cheap houses in the general area but in the specific village I'm looking in they seem to have come to a standstill, one or another drops 5k occasionally from an elevated asking price.

A house came on rightmove last week which would have been great for my daughter priced at £120k, I looked it up and it was sold in 2004 for £40k !!, This is on at a price never acheived in that road....what are they thinking !!.

Patience......if they want to sell they will reduce the price eventually.

Good luck. A x

Sally_Gee

I have found the same , the majority of property available is stuff with major downsides like next to a busy road or whatever, and it is not selling. Occasionally I see a decent property come onto the market, but the price is nowhere near the % drops that you would expect to see.

Its looking like becoming more of a house sale suspension , than a crash, 25% off makes a great headline, but if the shelves are empty it means very little.

N9eav

I know some friends have their house 'on the market', but they said they are not going to drop their asking price, so the agent still markets it and you see no movement in price. They will accept an offer, but they don't want to lower their starting price.

ad9898_3

phil_b wrote: »

I check rightmove quite often, and when I come accross a house which ticks a few boxs my immediate action is to look at previous sold prices on that street. 99% of the time the house I'm looking at is priced right at the upper limit of historical prices, even those in the last 6-12 months. I dont get it . It's like the whole HPC is some strange myth where I'm looking. Maybe I'm just not spotting the good ones.

I know asking prices and sold prices are very different, so hopefully reality will kick-in in one big dollop sometime soon for some fast drops.

There is the occasional notable drop of asking price but it is always on a naff property.

I'm looking in the leeds/york/harrogate triangle by the way. 3-bed semi sort of thing. Anyone spotted any tempters around that way?

You have to have patience Phil, HPC takes a long long time to take effect, it will never happen overnight, people are very reluctant to give away their 'paper' wealth.

History tells us that from top to bottom takes years, this time will be a lot worse, some people can't drop because of the 100% mortgages they took out, also mewing has been very prevalent, where people, perversely have been eroding their own equity in the boom time. These people will try and stuggle through, hoping they will make it through to the other side, many of course will be repossessed.

HPC has only really been in the media for 6 months, it's not long enough for Joe Public to throw in the towel just yet, especially with the media and government giving contradictory statements, like, ' it's the worst economic downturn in 60 years ( Alastair Darling)' and then in th next breath telling us ' we will be coming out of recession this time next year'

Patience, good things com to those who wait.;)

Airwolf1

I think the key thing is what people offer. And I think it is only when people do make offers that are in line with current market conditions, that if someone needs to sell, than reality may start to kick in. If they don't need to sell, then *maybe* someone who absolutely falls in love with their property may just make an acceptable offer, but time may be needed for this to happen.

Or maybe, as in the DFW board, sellers that need to sell, may get their LBM!!

Davesnave

Unfortunately, you don't give your location, so no one with local knowledge can comment specifically. There are big variations nationwide and where I am, in my market sector, there certainly are reductions. I'm one of them. No, it's not a 'crap' house in a bad location, and neither are most of those I've been competing with.

It may be significant that I'm in a small city with a large turnover of uni, MoD and NHS staff and the rental market is somewhat saturated already. Even those of us well-priced have had to wait though, because higher up the ladder, an eager buyer doesn't mean someone with cash/mortgage in hand; there's another property to be sold and a chain, which frequently snaps. Six months is a quick selling time here, if my Rightmove saved list is anything to go by.

Human psychology plays a huge part too. The property I'm intending to rent now I'm SSTC, was in competition with my property six months ago. I decided to slash my price and they didn't. Now they are playing' Wait & see.' Suits me fine. I think they're making a big mistake. What they're really saying is: 'Soon there will be an economic turnaround, the government will sort it all out and the enthusiastic, mortgage-enabled buyers will return in quantity.'

I know it's Christmas, and we all like a good tale, but the above wish reads like a fairy story to me.

Where I'm hoping to buy, people really are in cloud-cuckoo land, with virtually every property I was interested in a year ago still on at the same old prices. There have been a few bargains, so the situation isn't impossible, but knowing that, my instinct is to hang on. If they won't play the game, I'm sure others in a different area will, so the key to doing a good deal is flexibility or patience, or both.

sympatex

chrisandanne wrote: »

I can sympathise with this Phil.....there are some big drops and cheap houses in the general area but in the specific village I'm looking in they seem to have come to a standstill, one or another drops 5k occasionally from an elevated asking price.

A house came on rightmove last week which would have been great for my daughter priced at £120k, I looked it up and it was sold in 2004 for £40k !!, This is on at a price never acheived in that road....what are they thinking !!.

Patience......if they want to sell they will reduce the price eventually.

Good luck. A x

Anne, you make a good point and one which is massively regional and is partly key to such wide views of the housing boom and hopeful bust. For example i'm a FTB and i am only looking at offering the price the house was in 2003. (i have to have a guess sometimes but it's pretty linear since 2002. 2000-2002 was our big boom. You're saying that you've seen houses prices treble in 4years. Rediculous, i bet wages haven't and there's no way a vendor whose advertising at 120k is going to let it go for 40 (or less!). I am finding that 2003 prices usually equate to a 80,000 drop in prices on the houses im interested in from peak in my area which is approximiately 27% fall. So where we've had an approximate appreciation of 50% in those (5years) (your comparison was on 4) you've had a 300% rise. So when we talk about HPI individuals from differing parts of the country have a very different view of it!

Key is DYOR, if you can manage the repayments on one salary, plan for future potential problems over job security (insurance?!) and have 3-9months of pay in savings why not do it now, there's not much competition. However do expect house prices to continue to slide (plummet?) while the country is in recession and finance is barred to all those without at least 10% deposits. I suspect those will soon go too. When they do, house prces will drop further as saving a deposit of 50k is beyond most peoples ability! certainly over the next couple of years!

teabelly

It doesn't make much difference what you ask. Houses aren't selling so you can ask high prices or low prices and still it won't shift. Only properties in good rental areas with reasonable yields are selling with much ease. If you aren't desperate to sell then don't bother as there aren't enough buyers out there to get you a decent price. If the seller doesn't have to sell then they won't take your low offer.

Also people are more inclined to rent out their old house or rent out one they have received through inheritance rather than sell it off at what they consider to be too low a price. As more and more property is withdrawn the sellers will start to have the upper hand and prices will have to rise to encourage a reasonable amount of choice in the market. The urge to buy and make a nest is stronger than the urge to sell off an asset you know to be worth more than you'd get.

Max_Headroom_3

There's a large averagish housing estate near where I live and I'd looked at a 2 bed place there when they were new years ago but bought an older larger 3 bed place for the same money instead. At the time they were all £49K (we're talking mid ninties)

I've watched the price of these go up over the years, till they were all asking/selling for £150K plus. Very popular with BTL by the way.

Since the crash I've kept the odd eye out and they've stayed steadfastly at £150K+ asking prices, with typically four or five for sale at any one time.

Then I checked a few weeks ago and suddenly one is for sale at £129K, and it's got a garage (most just have parking). And all the others have quietly disappeared...

Seems to me that a dose of reality has finally hit as someone's finally broken ranks and dropped to sell, and all the rest can't/won't drop to that and realised the game is up and have withdrawn.

A lot of very nervous landlords suddenly seen £25K - £30K wiped off their "asset" there I should have thought.

And a whole new price point in place as anyone with a 2 bed (they're all very similar) will have that one pointed out to them as "the price".

Bottom line, there's a lot of recalibration of the British psyche regarding house prices needed, and it will take a long while to filter through to asking prices. But once a few are forced to break ranks, others will have no choice but to follow if they want/need to sell.

chucky

Max_Headroom wrote: »

There's a large averagish housing estate near where I live and I'd looked at a 2 bed place there when they were new years ago but bought an older larger 3 bed place for the same money instead. At the time they were all £49K (we're talking mid ninties)

am right in assuming that taking like for like your property has dropped in 'value' less than these new builds in the same amount of time?