SE London: what is going on?!

[sellotape12]

Been looking for a modest house in Honor Oak, Brockley, Sydenham or Forest Hill for 9 weeks and we have got nothing. Why is no one selling?

We have sold our place in East Dulwich but found the other SE London neighbourhoods desolate. It's not the same in Walthamstow, Streatham, Tooting, Brixton: for some reason the area we hope to stay in is playing dead.

I'm also getting fed up with KFH who seem to monopolise what is for sale. Their favourite thing is to blame the sun/ interest rates/ Brexit/ mayoral election/ unicorns for why you can't afford somewhere yet cant back up any economic argument. Jerks. They are trying to over-inflate a sensitive market.

I don't understand how this area of London - expecting an 8% rise this year - have owners expecting to sell for 100k more than a similar place would be less than one year ago. Thats not 8%. Most of the houses we have seen are simply not worth it. In fact, the one place we did 'get' failed its mortgage valuation twice, as two lenders were pretty clear that the house wasn't worth it. Makes me feel a bit better.

[alazuli]

I don't think anyone's selling at the moment because everyone's waiting for the EU referendum in June to see what will happen. If we leave, that will definitely affect house prices and the economy negatively.

I spoke to an EA over the weekend and asked him about it. He says no one's overbidding on houses at the moment (although this might not be true for more expensive houses as my budget is a lot smaller than yours!). I think everyone is being very careful with their money in case Brexit screws the economy.

You might be better off waiting for June. If we stay there'll be more on the market.

[kirinm]

The market really seems to have died in SE London, I agree. We had an offer accepted a couple of weeks ago which I think I'm pleased about as nothing has come on in or around Peckham since. It had slowed right down anyway and we had put that down to the referendum. I think if we leave, the market might stay quiet. I think there's going to be a lot of uncertainty about interest rates and price crashes. I'm not sure what people are hoping for. A housing market crash isn't going to suddenly make houses easy to buy as I'd assume people just won't sell?

I quite like KFH! They seem a lot less bullshitty than the EA in East London.

[kirinm]

Oh and I've found in the SE we've not had to bid over asking as much as we had to in E London. The place we are in the process of trying to buy dropped its price by £60k but it was ridiculously overpriced.