Anyone else finding it impossible to buy right now?

RelievedSheff

SpiderLegs said:

JJR45 said:

We completed our sale in December and could not find anything so have rented since.
People are going mad but seeing a few fall through now, I think best bet is new build with a decent completion date.
Seems like people at the moment are willing to pay £xx,xxx more to save a few thousand on stamp duty, madness.
There are going to be a lot of people who find out they have over paid in a year or so time.

That doesn’t make sense really though. I bet you can’t find one person who will tell you that the only reason they are going to pay £xx,xxx more is to save save a few thousand on stamp duty.

The SDLT holiday is just a fart in the wind.

As for over paying, well the best bet to avoid that would most definitely not be to buy a new build.

Our new build has done us well so far. Bought for £210k in 2019, now two years later valued at £240k. 

JJR45

SpiderLegs said:

That doesn’t make sense really though. I bet you can’t find one person who will tell you that the only reason they are going to pay £xx,xxx more is to save save a few thousand on stamp duty.

The SDLT holiday is just a fart in the wind.

As for over paying, well the best bet to avoid that would most definitely not be to buy a new build.

Who said it was the only reason, can't see it in what you have quoted?
But it is certainly the reason why the market is so hot at the moment, prices were falling before it's introduction.

My point is, newbuilds at the moment are around the same cost as a currently built property (including floors etc), so you are not paying a premium and would have nothing to do to it. 
If you look at prices at the moment you can generally buy off plan for the same if not cheaper than a 1-2 year old lived in house.
Everyone wants a house now, not in 6-12 months time.

SpiderLegs

JJR45 said:

SpiderLegs said:

That doesn’t make sense really though. I bet you can’t find one person who will tell you that the only reason they are going to pay £xx,xxx more is to save save a few thousand on stamp duty.

The SDLT holiday is just a fart in the wind.

As for over paying, well the best bet to avoid that would most definitely not be to buy a new build.

Who said it was the only reason, can't see it in what you have quoted?
But it is certainly the reason why the market is so hot at the moment, prices were falling before it's introduction.

My point is, newbuilds at the moment are around the same cost as a currently built property (including floors etc), so you are not paying a premium and would have nothing to do to it. 
If you look at prices at the moment you can generally buy off plan for the same if not cheaper than a 1-2 year old lived in house.
Everyone wants a house now, not in 6-12 months time.

Nobody said only. That’s the point. You certainly didn’t. You definitely said that there were multiple reasons why people were willing to pay £xx,xxxx more for a house, of which SDLT cut was just one of them and that’s why we shouldn’t overplay it’s importance when it is removed.

What are those other factors and in what way are they going to mean people find out they have overpaid in a year or so?

Bossworld

Happening in the North East, posted a thread up as my in-laws are looking to move up, but they've had viewings cancelled on the morning because there are that many bids in already.  Houses are going within 2/3 days of being listed.

Perhaps it might calm down in a few weeks when the stamp duty holiday cut-off is unachievable.  Being cash buyers/chain free isn't helping that much, as plenty of other bidders are too.

JJR45

SpiderLegs said:

What are those other factors and in what way are they going to mean people find out they have overpaid in a year or so?

Well, I think you wrote only, so someone did.
factors:
Paying over asking price, paying more than it is valued at, their circumstances changing, mortgage interest rates increasing, buying any house because the market choice is limited at the moment. Buying the wrong property due to limited supply or a property with issues.

There are many factors why people can find out they have overpaid on a property, we did in 2016 in reality (need a fair amount of work and we only broke even, after 4 years of HPI). But in the current market the chances of paying over the odds are amplified.

Plenty of properties are going up at massive increases as people know some people are desperate to find somewhere, so they are taking their chance to offload at a decent profit. (well over HPI increases) 
The Market will soften and more houses will become available, so at this particular point there is a higher possibility of people overpaying, as they feel they have to buy a property as they have sold theirs.
It's a sellers market at the moment, that will change after the withdrawal of the stamp duty break and the end of furlough.
Just like an eBay auction, some people get caught up in the FOMO and do things they would not do in "normal time"

warwick2001

What has amazed me about all of this is the fact there are more people unemployed/due to be made redundant due to Covid-19 than in the last 4 years:

Most economists expect the unemployment rate - which counts how many people are able to work and want a job, but can't find one - to rise in 2021.

About 2.2 million people, or 6.5% of all workers, could be unemployed at the end of the year, the government's spending watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility says.    BBC website quote.

And yet the house prices seem to be getting higher and higher. So there are less people able to afford them, and yet the value is rocketing???? It makes no economic sense, if there's less money around, and less viable buyers, surely the price must go down? But apparently not. Its all very odd. I'll be selling my house shortly, so I guess I'll benefit from this, but I still can't get my head around it.... 

SpiderLegs

warwick2001 said:

What has amazed me about all of this is the fact there are more people unemployed/due to be made redundant due to Covid-19 than in the last 4 years:

Most economists expect the unemployment rate - which counts how many people are able to work and want a job, but can't find one - to rise in 2021.

About 2.2 million people, or 6.5% of all workers, could be unemployed at the end of the year, the government's spending watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility says.    BBC website quote.

And yet the house prices seem to be getting higher and higher. So there are less people able to afford them, and yet the value is rocketing???? It makes no economic sense, if there's less money around, and less viable buyers, surely the price must go down? But apparently not. Its all very odd. I'll be selling my house shortly, so I guess I'll benefit from this, but I still can't get my head around it.... 

Yes on the face of it that sounds nonsensical. But the thing is, this whole thread is about there being more and more buyers, not less.
so if there’s more buyers and prices are going up then they must have more money to spend. And they can’t have loads more to spend because of the SDLT cut because that’s pretty small stuff really. And lending criteria hasn’t relaxed AFAIK so they’re not borrowing more.
so where is the money coming from?

I think the answer is probably to look beyond the headline and think about who is buying and what are they buying.

For example, the biggest price increases are in the likes of detached, non-metropolitan properties that second/third steppers really want and have the extra cash for. And are less likely to be losing their jobs.

If the average FTB is 33 and the average person losing their job is say 25, that’s not going to really impact on house prices unless it’s sustained unemployment for many years.

misspenfold

As a fellow Sheffielder who’s just had an offer accepted, I know exactly how you feel. We’d viewed over 30 properties, made offers on 7. Everything is going well over asking price. And viewing days book up the day it’s advertised.

My only advice is stick at it. We came REALLY close to packing it in, but we took a week break - especially away from right move. It really does get addictive - and carried on.  If you’re selling progress that. That we’re nearly at exchange stage for our sale has been a pro for us with agents, though as others have said cash buyers are still more attractive.

You’ll get there, just don’t feel pressured to pay more than you can, or for a place you don’t really want. Remember everyone’s feel the same pressure you are!

JJR45

SpiderLegs said:

If the average FTB is 33 and the average person losing their job is say 25, that’s not going to really impact on house prices unless it’s sustained unemployment for many years.

That ignores economics, those people are on furlough at the moment and receiving a wage paid by the government. Once that stops many will be laid off, so they will no longer have money to spend, which will the have an impact on other parts of the economy.
Just because parts of the economy are unaffected at the moment, that does not mean they will carry on being unaffected in the near future. Repossessions restart today (nearly 100,000 in arrears) and evictions will start back up soon (estimated 840,000 in arrears), that could se a lot of unhappy BTL landlords selling up and repossessed properties coming to the market.
There will be some unwinding, history tells us that, it is just when and by how much. Could be a brief dip, or a full blown crash.  Much depends on what happens regarding covid and the massive bill for it we have to pay off.

Angela_D_3

Not only that but the banks are refusing to loan to people whove been furloughed and still currently are on furloughed which must account for at least some potential purchasers in the 33 plus age group