Price rises! What price rises?

pricedout_1

The last time I tried to buy was 4 to 5 years ago.
I got into a bidding war for a rather shabby 1 bed in shepherds bush (woodchiped wallpaper throughout, new kitchen and bathroom needed etc etc.) My last bid was 185K before pulling out, so someone payed the best part of 190K and it looked like about 10 - 15K more to bring it up to speed.

I have recently looked into prices for flats in West London and prices don't seem any different!!!
There are the same number of flats priced between 170K to 190K.
The only difference I can see is that there are more flats where they have painted the walls and thrown some pebbles near the fireplace and then added 40K

Anyone else seeing stagnation or price falls ?

cupid_s

In the city where I bought 3 years ago, house prices seem a lot higher in a few select areas. But overall they have not gone up in price much at all. We could afford very similar things now with the money we had then. In fact probably better as we'd have had an extra 3 years to save a much better deposit.

In my parents area 130 miles away house prices are falling. They've decreased in price by approximately 20k in the last 18 months.

nej

My house was £170k when I bought it in 2001. Valued last week at £285k. No way could I afford it now.

pricedout_1

cupid_stunt wrote:

In the city where I bought 3 years ago, house prices seem a lot higher in a few select areas. But overall they have not gone up in price much at all. We could afford very similar things now with the money we had then. In fact probably better as we'd have had an extra 3 years to save a much better deposit.

In my parents area 130 miles away house prices are falling. They've decreased in price by approximately 20k in the last 18 months.

Yeh, the media headlines over the passed few years report on huge price rises in certain areas ... kensigton and chelsea for example where all the city financial types with more money than they know what to do with have invested in ... but this isn't representative of the majority of property and average wage based people.

20K in 18 months! Presumably they are not planning to move so aren't worried? Maybe the speculative valuation of property is just returning to trend.

nej wrote:

My house was £170k when I bought it in 2001. Valued last week at £285k. No way could I afford it now.

Where did you buy ? London ? Flat or house ?

Alan_M_2

Two bed semi, the same street in which I live Bletchingley Surrey very close to J6 M25

May 2000 - £105,500
Jan 2007 - £247,000 - Has just sold after being advertised at £248,000

dunstonh

I think the period to really look at it is 2004-2007. A lot of growth occured from 2000-2004 but it has been light or even non existent in some areas from 2004 onwards.

meanmachine_2

Prices in London between 2001-4 were very flat. Only in recent times have the posher areas picked up markedly.

I'd say that 180K for a one bedder in Shepherd's Bush was astronomical at the time. (I still wouldn't pay it now).

In my area prices fell 10% in 2005 and rose 10% in 2006, so we're evens.

nej

hughgallagher wrote:

Where did you buy ? London ? Flat or house ?

South London/Surrey (Sutton, to be exact!). 4-bed terraced house (3-bed plus a loft conversion).

thesaint

I bought in 2001 for £42,500 now would sell for around £130,000.
Most of the rise happened in 2001-2005, the last 18 months has seen a very modest gain.

manhattan

looking at a nearby house in cambridgeshire 2 bed semi very nice area

2002 - £153k
2006 - £160k

not much difference at all.

cupid_s

hughgallagher wrote:

20K in 18 months! Presumably they are not planning to move so aren't worried? Maybe the speculative valuation of property is just returning to trend.

Luckily they're quite happy where they are, though as they paid £5500 for theirs initially, and will buy somewhere smaller and cheaper when they do move it won't matter.

Alan_M wrote:

Two bed semi, the same street in which I live Bletchingley Surrey very close to J6 M25

May 2000 - £105,500
Jan 2007 - £247,000 - Has just sold after being advertised at £248,000

In May 2000 houses like my parents were going for about 90k. Now they're selling at about 165k. Great what a price rise you might think.
But less than 18 months ago the same houses were selling for 185k+. Their neighbours bought their house for 200k last year (it was extended quite a bit) and now it's worth less than what they paid.

Another similar example, my friends have just purchased their first house for 110k. The previous owners bought it for about 50k in 2000. However the exact same houses were selling for 120k a year ago.

You have to look at the rises in the last couple of years as dunstonh says.