Are house prices falling?

kingshir

Have been advised to repost my question on this site. Sorry if you've already read it

I am buying a small property in Coventry and am almost at the exchanging contracts stage BUT I keep hearing,seeing & reading that prices are beginning to fall. The estate agent that is dealing with the sale is telling me that prices are stable but another agent that I rang to check with says prices have fallen a bit! I don't want to buy now only to find I could have paid substantially less in a couple of weeks! Anyone care to comment please?

trafalgar_2

I can only say what is happening where I am,there is a definate slowing down .....................some houses have dropped there prices to sell as they don't want to hang about .....I don't think it's going down yet but definately slowing .

eurows

Hi

I have seen a definate cooling and lowering of prices. And would like too pose the following question. Although people in general ie those who own their own homes, estate agents and banks etc are constantly telling us that prices won't collapse I cannot help but notice that prices in my region are dropping, on top of this people are offering less and then ftb are under gazumping.

Why are these people blind to these facts. They are confincing themselfs as they did in the 80's that prices won't fall just stagnate and then increase again. People think good times go on forever but they never do.

I have just checked on rightmoves new house checker facility where you can see the selling price of houses. A three bed terrace in Savile Close Brighouse went for £213,000 at the end of last year. A house next door, all the houses are the same, is now on the market for £190,000 and still can't sell.

I am tempted as I am looking for a house to0 offer 10k less and then undergazump just before the sale and offer another 5k less. But I think why should I. I can sit this thing out and wait for the prices to fall further, which they inevitably will and then do the same.

The time of the ftb is nearing and I for one won't lose any sleep over being underhand when the time to buy nears.

These greedy sellers have had things there way for far too long.

gatita

While reading the above post,'Sour Grapes' sprang to mind! does anyone else think the same? I wonder how altruistic eurows would be if he/she were selling now? You cannot blame the increase in property on every individual owner for heavens sake!

eurows

Its not a case of sour grapes. I am sick of home owners throwing their big profits down my throat and then having the gaul to tell me that they are still going up even though the market says otherwise.

If its sour grapes from me then its greed from them

deemy2004

A correction is long overdue, but that is all it is likely to be a correction... Now saying that... the correction WILL be painful as people are conditioned to rising prices and not falling prices..... VERY PAINFUL !

deemy2004

kingshir wrote:

Have been advised to repost my question on this site. Sorry if you've already read it

I am buying a small property in Coventry and am almost at the exchanging contracts stage BUT I keep hearing,seeing & reading that prices are beginning to fall. The estate agent that is dealing with the sale is telling me that prices are stable but another agent that I rang to check with says prices have fallen a bit! I don't want to buy now only to find I could have paid substantially less in a couple of weeks! Anyone care to comment please?

Your buying near the peak, just like a ocean liner the housing market is slow to turn.... I expect a crunch i.e. a sharp drop in a short space of time maybe as much as 8% over 3 months then a slow gradual decline of maybe a 2-4% over a couple of years or so... choppy action.

Though taking into account of inflation that 4% will equal about 9%.

Each day that passes the legs are being kicked from under the housign market, the tables buckling, its swaying, its going to FAAAALllllllll..............

Unemployment - rising

High Street Spending - consumers in hiberation after a 10 year spending binge... I mean talk about being exhuasted !

Taxes - Rising, NI going up !

Wages - Falling - influx of a zillion poles and eastern european fodder for the capitalist money making machine will ensure a cap on wages.

Interest rates - ??? Depends on inflation which IS rising but too early to call if the BOE can control it or not, given that the currency as expected has started to fall.

trafalgar_2

eurows wrote:

These greedy sellers have had things there way for far too long.

I don't understand why you are calling them greedy ,it's just the market,if they sell their particular house for too little how are they going to buy their next one..................which has risen by as much.

how is it greed?


if prices drop,then they can sell for less as their future one will cost less

deemy2004

He may or may not have meant it , but the market is driven on the basis of greed and fear ...

Thats why you have movements to extremes of overvaluation and to under valuation. So yes it is GREED ! That has driven prices up to these ridiculously high levels and it will be FEAR That will bring about the sharp drop over a short space of time.

Ever since the tulip bubble burst... and countless times afterwards it has always been a matter of greed and fear which has driven the manias...

Debt_Free_Chick

I find the problem with this question is that there is no definite value for a property. To coin a phrase "it's only worth what someone pays for it".

So ... what does "house prices are falling actually mean"? Does it mean that a house that actually sold for £150,000 last month/year/whenever has just sold again at a lower price? Does it mean that a house that sold for £150,000 last month is back on the market at a lower price? Or has just sold again (unlikely) for a lower price?

All this talk means this, I think ... that properties are now failing to sell at or close to the asking price. Does that mean that the property is now "worth" less? Or is it that the asking price was too high?

The asking price is rather like the price an auctioneer starts the bidding at - it's a case of "any takers at this price?" and the starting price could be way off what the bidders are prepared to pay.

One thing is for sure .... sellers are nervous and many buyers are holding back, so there's little competition and possibly more supply than demand. So that might there's an opportunity to negotiate on price. But if you're buying your home, rather than an investment, then I believe you should evaluate what you can afford with how much you really want to live in the house.

Just my mutterings

eurows

I agree that you need to get as much as possible for your house in order to buy another. However I was in the estate agency recently and was commenting on a house that had been on the market for over 1 and a half years. The estate agency said they valued the house at £315.00 and the seller told them to put it up to £345.00 saying someone will buy it.

Needless to say its still for sale. The seller won't budge an inch and the buyers are not interested. Is that not greed.

I was recently on the bbc website reading about the dutch housing market which has recently seen a sudden correction. The dutch lady was saying that the signs they saw are the signs we are seeing here. Greed and denial.