Why is nobody selling?

Running_Horse

At least that's the way it seems. Saw a headline the other day saying % of houses sold every year has dropped from 12.5 to 5.

Normally there are a dozen or so properties on in our area, with most gone by summer. Now there are only two or three, which go immediately. The same is true in the area we would like to move to. Two or three in an ordinary but nice part of town, with talk of several offers and queues of interested buyers.

Will probably just not bother with the hassle of dealing with agent hype, which no doubt makes things more scarce for those looking for our type of house. Anyone else noticed the same? Why is nobody moving?

stator

Lots more people are 'maxing out' of the so called 'property ladder'. A lot of first time buyers are maxing out on their first 'step' with 4x income and a 30 year mortgage. People who bought houses 10 years ago might max out on their second step etc. Unless house prices massively increase or you get a massive pay rise you can't afford to move up the 'ladder' so why bother moving?

[Deleted User]

For us, the cost difference between moving from 3 to 4 bed is immense (we'd have to spend an extra £150k).

BUT, for £50k I could get a loft extension that turns my 3 bed into a 4 - so why on earth would I move? There's been quite a few loft extensions go up around my area and very few house moves.

Also - no stamp duty or estate agent fees..

cells

according to the LR there were

898,767 sales in 2014
788,851 sales in 2013
663,090 sales in 2012

cells

A low build rate of new homes has a magnified impact on sales

We build about 70,000 fewer new homes a year now which results in about 230,000 fewer sales overall as most buyers of new homes are sellers of their own homes

effectively you get a series


70,000 few homes built
50,000 fewer homes sold to buy those homes
35,000 fewer homes sold to buy those homes
25,000 fewer homes sold to buy those homes
etc
etc


You get a series of sales and chain which means for each 1 new house not built you get somewhere in the region of 3-4 homes not sold

PasturesNew

If I wanted a bigger house, another bedroom'd cost me an additional £50-100k in the cheap end of the market. No idea how much it'd cost to stick up a10'x25' 2-storey extension to give this one an extra bedroom and en-suite and make the living room a little bigger .... but it would most likely be cheaper than the bottom end £50k, plus EA fees, plus new stamp duty, that moving would entail.

westernpromise

ringo_24601 wrote: »

For us, the cost difference between moving from 3 to 4 bed is immense (we'd have to spend an extra £150k).

BUT, for £50k I could get a loft extension that turns my 3 bed into a 4 - so why on earth would I move? There's been quite a few loft extensions go up around my area and very few house moves.

Also - no stamp duty or estate agent fees..

This. It would £74,000 just in stamp duty to buy my current house, so if I need more space I'd do the loft conversion and the kitchen, rather than pay to sell and pay to buy a bigger house for the same money in a different area.

michaels

westernpromise wrote: »

This. It would £74,000 just in stamp duty to buy my current house, so if I need more space I'd do the loft conversion and the kitchen, rather than pay to sell and pay to buy a bigger house for the same money in a different area.

Mine is at least 10 inches....

pathtofreedom

There are lots of houses for sale where I am and none are shifting. I am hoping to sell mine this year and even at a big loss I'm not that optimistic it will sell this year.

PixelPound

pathtofreedom wrote: »

There are lots of houses for sale where I am and none are shifting. I am hoping to sell mine this year and even at a big loss I'm not that optimistic it will sell this year.

There are a few properties on the market, for 10-20% above what similar sold last year, but not shifting. This I suppose makes others not bother putting theirs on the market?

calicocat

Where I am they seem to be sold within a few days to a week in the main.

Admittedly though there are less on the market than two years ago when I was looking, and there are some odd asking prices around too compared to then, both way above and under? I'm assuming a mixture of those happy to wait for their price or chancing it, and those wanting a quicker sale?....who knows.

In general they are selling for more than two years ago though.