Post Stamp Duty Deadline...will it go quiet now?

trakky14

What are people expecting the market to do now the stamp duty deadline is approaching? Near us there is next to nothing on the market compared to 3 months ago when it was flat out with new listings. Will it get even quieter over the summer do you think or pick up again? I know in a normal year less new stuff comes to market generally....we haven't found anything remotely suitable despite widening our search area and budget....and average about one viewing a week (on a good week!). All the agents keep telling us it's so quiet, never seen a market like it....meanwhile the demand keeps increasing with people from.the urban areas trying to find stuff here. Prices are becoming ridiculous!!! Thanks 😊

ucl1986

I imagine lots of properties will re-appear on the market. There will be a lot of !!!!!! off buyers who will walk away from their purchases if they missed the SDLT holiday deadline. 

Scotbot

ucl1986 said:

I imagine lots of properties will re-appear on the market. There will be a lot of !!!!!! off buyers who will walk away from their purchases if they missed the SDLT holiday deadline. 

That doesn't  mean the vendors will relist. They may decide not to sell

Keswick1uk

Three properties here have "fallen through" this week in my small town although only one has a clear high stamp duty saving.  The others may have been chains, of course. Or something else!

Ramouth

I don’t understand why buyers would walk away.  What would be the point?  You are still going to pay stamp duty if you switch houses plus another set of searches, surveys and legal fees.

Keswick1uk

They may not have, of course. They may just be be natural falling through but it's a lot in a week. Up to now I've seen very few come back to market over past 5 months. Let's see if there are more this week or not. 

Octothorpe

I've read a few posts where people have borrowed more on their mortgage but wouldn't have the free cash to pay stamp duty and a bigger deposit. So I guess that could be a factor. 

ucl1986

Ramouth said:

I don’t understand why buyers would walk away.  What would be the point?  You are still going to pay stamp duty if you switch houses plus another set of searches, surveys and legal fees.

I agree, plus house prices continue to rise in the meantime. 

It can be purely emotional. They are annoyed that they've "lost" £15k and want to show their frustration to the seller by walking away. Almost like an act of revenge. Though in reality it seems more like cutting off your nose to spite your face. 

Irishpearce26

Ramouth said:

I don’t understand why buyers would walk away.  What would be the point?  You are still going to pay stamp duty if you switch houses plus another set of searches, surveys and legal fees.

Because they didn't budget for stamp duty and therefore cant afford the property.

Irishpearce26

ucl1986 said:

I imagine lots of properties will re-appear on the market. There will be a lot of !!!!!! off buyers who will walk away from their purchases if they missed the SDLT holiday deadline. 

Not !!!!!! off buyers but naive buyers who felt they could beat the deadline and didn't budget for SDLT. I expect houses back on the market probably at a slight reduction. I think many will look to sell searches and surveys from failed sales to get houses sold in the next 2-3 months. SDLT deadline optimists trying to suck blood from a stone in negotiations looking for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I don't think the SDLT inflated prices that much, what it did was it encouraged bidding wars with majority having more money to spend on their deposit. 

I am poised with popcorn ready for the stream of threads on stamp duty come Monday and of course the usual 'stamp duty extension petition' thread.

Strawberryplant

Our sale nearly fell through because the property was downvalued by the mortgage provider surveyor from £230 to £215. We couldn’t afford to cover that difference.  Initially the seller said they wouldn’t reduce the price and would just put it back on the market. After a tense few days they agreed to meet in the middle (of our agreed offer and the valuation). We’d already looked at a few more houses in the meantime and were dreading going back to square one and potentially having the same thing happen again.
Wonder if downvaluations have happened a lot following the bidding wars that have been goi f on and the increase in the market. Lenders getting more cagey over the last month or so? Of course this estate agent told us this hadn’t happened to anyone else and our mortgage company must be bonkers, but 3 other estate agents said it’s a growing concern.
So maybe a reason some sales are falling through. Anyone else experienced this?