Static House Prices

carefullycautious

Total madness really. What a tangled web we weave for ourselves.

bob79

When I checked rightmove (including land registry data) today for properties that I looked at in May of last year I found some interesting stuff. The majority of the houses have disappeared without being sold. A couple sold, according to the land registry, in August/September. A handful is still on rightmove. Especially interesting is that 2 very recently went Sold STC on rightmove (without having dropped the price in almost a year). Probably those sales will through because of the valuation by the lender:cool:, but some sellers might have gotten lucky.

carefullycautious

Thats interesting Bob. I expect it is different all over the country. But in my area its like wading through mud. Nothing seems to be happening.

ukcarper

They could have accepted a low offer just have to wait 3 months or so to see what they sold for if the do sell.

Tiger_greeneyes

That was exactly how we felt when we were househunting recently. It seemed that a lot of vendors were living in a bubble. There are some houses that have been on the market over 2 years and those that have been reduced have only gone down by £2k or so. One house (a small 2 bed semi) was on the market for £127k for well over a year because the vendor had a £90k mortgage she wanted to pay off, and she wanted to pay all the fees and be left with £20k in the bank. The house then had a fire which caused £30k worth of damage - so the vendor reduced the price to £115k It's still on the market but now reduced to £95k - and has been that price for 4 months now. That figure was realistic (and it was what we offered) back in November.

There are some realistic vendors out there though, the house we've just moved into was originally on the market for £145k and we got it for £92k which was very much below market value.

ukcarper

Perhaps all this making low offers should stop and people should put their houses on the market for the price they want, after all what is the point of reducing your price to what you actually want only to have people offer 10 to 20% less. I don’t think the way the property market is working at the moment benefits anyone.

poppysarah

ukcarper wrote: »

Perhaps all this making low offers should stop and people should put their houses on the market for the price they want, after all what is the point of reducing your price to what you actually want only to have people offer 10 to 20% less. I don’t think the way the property market is working at the moment benefits anyone.

I seriously think the one I viewed at the weekend thinks 129k is achievable.

ukcarper

If they really want to sell you must wonder what EA is telling them.

My house was worth £300,000 in 2007. I was thinking of downsizing but I realise I would be lucky to get £250,000 now making it not worth the effort of downsizing. I suppose I could put my house on the market at a higher enough figure to give me enough money to make it worthwhile but then I probable wouldn’t sell so I won't.

I don't think anybody can really believe their house is worth what it was at the peak

Yakubu22

It's the same situation where I live (South Warrington). Properties are up at quite high prices and dont seem to be coming down. There are some which have been for Sale for 9-12 months (I check weekly on rightmove). I also have friends who have had to sell and took a loss on their home they purchased in 2007. They were very reluctant to sell and lose money but circumstances forced their hand in the end. But i think most vendors are scared of losing money on their homes and are still believing some crazy buyer might come in and off the asking price. From a FTB point of view I hope the price decreases continue and therefore become more affordable for me.

poppysarah

ukcarper wrote: »

I don't think anybody can really believe their house is worth what it was at the peak

This couple have an insane idea of peak being 145k.
No house has sold for that much - the most is 128k and although some have been for sale at over 130k - one has been on sale for a year.
Others have sold for a lot less - and it's becoming a trend.

They have however picked an EA who doesn't normally do this end of where I live. I wonder if the ones who do were more realistic about pricing.

Still no call from the EA - or a reply to my request for a look at the HIP.