Houses over a million - stagnant market

[Needadognow]

I live in Surrey and have been looking at houses between 1-3 million for the past year or so. These houses just don't seem to sell quickly at all.

How long should you realistically give yourself if you had a house worth £1.5m in a rural(ish) area? (Surrey)

[Needadognow]

How long do you think it may take to sell (I know this is a bit like how long is a piece of string but still just wondered your thoughts...)

[roneik]

There she goes, it's over. Believe the hype and get burned

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/property/london/sw8/nine-elms-south-lambeth-vauxhall/?include_retirement_homes=true&include_shared_ownership=true&new_homes=include&q=sw8&results_sort=most_reduced&search_source=home

[whattodoforthebest2]

I'm in the same boat as you, but not looking to sell for a year or so (or more) (same location, price bracket). I think many buyers will be waiting until the election is over - there's too much uncertainty at present. When things have settled down after the election, hopefully interest rates will also be stable and then potential buyers may start looking again. Trade figures and unemployment rates need to look good for people to start thinking positively about the housing market.

I think the housing market in the South-East/Home Counties is usually more positive than elsewhere in the country, so it may be the first area to start seeing an improvement.

BTW I don't believe there'll be a housing market crash of any sort, we always need houses, land is in short supply and the demand in the South-East from UK and overseas buyers is generally strong if other economic conditions are stable.

[roneik]

It's crashing now as I type. By July you won't know what hit you.
Rule one flats and one bed houses are the worst to get rid of once any crash gains momentum.
All this bullshit about supply and demand, in most of Britain people are having problems selling. So that propaganda piece falls on it's arse .

It's maxed out and people either wont or cant get the funds. The latest propaganda seems to be Europeans will come over buying, this I doubt they are on their arses too.
No more suckers to feed the rows on the ponzi housing market graph

Take cover because it's over

[Viviennemary]

Except for investors have a lot of people really got £3m to spend on a house. I suggest they don't have. And if investors get an inkling the market is about to go into decline they will all disappear into thin air and reality will be left. Which is hugely inflated house prices which can only go one way and that's down. IMHO only of course.

[roneik]

Even in the NORTH there are lots of empty houses, some didn't like the buy to let and get a free pension , after they tasted the reality of letting. Other like neighbor have gone abroad for work and left it empty for the agents to sell/ It's in good nick and very very cheap a. It has not sold and sat there for a year.
It's over

[Ponyphysio]

Many friends of mine are sitting in 200k plus of negative equity in very modest homes - property in Ireland north and south has never recovered from the crash in 2008/9.

[roneik]

This thread reminds me of a picture that showed a man well
dressed ,standing by his top of the range car with a sign on it showing for sale. For just a few dollars. It was from the 30s depression
It's over

[mandy214]

No sign of a slump here (Cheshire) and things in all of the price brackets still moving quickly if its priced realistically.

[roneik]

Nobody seems to acknowledge the whole f@@cking thing is going t@ts up

There are always economically illiterate stragglers that buy , just like any Ponzi scheme it works until they run out of mugs to buy into it

It's over

[whattodoforthebest2]

Maybe that's because it isn't, Roneik?

I am selling a 3 bed semi in Surrey. I've had 7 viewings in 2 weeks and one offer. It doesn't look too bad so far.

[Iggly]

Maybe roneik you want it to be over?

[Artandco]

It's dropping. We looked at a house recently for £150k less than asking price they started at in July. In South west London. It still hasn't sold.

[roneik]

Maybe the 16% drop in sales in oct ,and the drop of 15% in value will be dwarfed by the nov and dec drops.

It does not matter what I want , I am telling what I believe will happen.
It is not a light switch the crash

No crash happens on a set day, it's events and confidence that decide. Everything is conspiring to bring about a crash
I logged on for the last time just to answer that as I found it a bit offensive.
It will destroy a lot of lives if it does crash, my aim was to warn
You will soon see I was right.
Cheerio for the last time until after the crash

[whattodoforthebest2]

I think the market was getting overheated in the Summer, with buyers seeming to be in a rush to buy and sellers cashing in quickly. It doesn't surprise me that it's cooling down now at all, it's usually quieter over Winter/Xmas and now we have an election looming too. It'll be interesting to see how the stockmarket reacts in the run up.

[mandy214]

I think a particular house dropping by £150k isnt necessarily indicative of a slump, it may well have been overpriced to start with.

I think it definitely depends on area but in my experience, so far, things are still positive here.

[Iggly]

The market definitely went crazy before the summer - houses were selling for silly prices. We had our place valued and the estate agents basically said market it as high as possible as things really were insane. Then it all calmed down a bit when the new mortgage rules came in.

Not sure if there will be a crash - the Tories will do anything to avoid a hint of one before May (hence the stamp duty fiddling!)

[simbacatlivesagain]

It is harder to get a £million mortgage these days. There are a fair few £1 million houses here and they do tend to sell but few sell quickly. 8 years ago it was sealed bids etc- now there is a choice. They do seem to rent very well.

[Gozogozo]

As Artandco said. A house near us was on at £995k in June & now down to £830k & no sign of shifting. In SE.

[Needadognow]

The reason I started this is because I have been looking at properties in Horsham, Reigate, Dorking, Kingswood and Esher and for the past year or so the same old houses (in the million pound plus bracket) are still sitting there not shifting. Those areas are all pretty spread out from each other too. I am currently in one of the above areas. I think (like a lot of these houses) I will get a lot of viewings as my house has recently been refurbished but I don't want to get too cocky and think that it will go. Should I give myself at least a year?

whats how long do you invisage your house being on the market?

roneik I fear what you say is true.

mandy I think it depends what price bracket?

[mandy214]

Yes, I think the bracket has something to do with it but also the area and the way in which houses were / are priced. As you say, certainly in London / SE the market went crazy earlier in the year and I think a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon, put their properties on the market and over-inflated their selling prices in the hope of getting a large profit. When that blip stopped / cooled down, quite a lot of property that was on the market that didn't go will still be on the market, and unless sellers review their selling prices, they're not likely to shift.

I think in other areas (mine) the market has been pretty steady, there wasn't a sudden glut of properties put on the market because that over-heating of the market that London saw wasn't felt to the same extent here. So there were still properties going on, but not at over inflated prices, so everything has kept moving, pretty much irrespective of the price bracket.

[whattodoforthebest2]

I'm not in a hurry, the house is vacant, so I'll give it a few more weeks and then reduce the price if necessary. Hopefully it'll be sold by the Summer.

I'm in one of those towns too and have seen a few houses appear on the market and go quickly, but have also seen other ones being taken off and put back on again time after time. Just a question of timing and the price being right I suppose. I think unless you need to sell now, I'd wait 6-12 months or so and see what happens to the market and the economy.

[roneik]

Hamersmith and fulham data for December shows property priced just over a million lost 7% or £80000 in value 80k in one month minus

In other areas of london about £40k drop in value for December
Some areas lost less , virtually all negative

It's over

[roneik]

Greater London December saw £ 31000 loss in value £31k

So it's got slightly worse than November minus £30k

It's over

[Snakesandpropertyladders]

Where I am on the London/ Kent border it has definitely slowed down. Nice houses are still selling if they are priced well but a lot of stuff is just sitting there.
I think a lot of property is still being priced as though it was still last summer when things went crazy. All the 3 bed houses coming onto the market around here seem to be on at 550k regardless of condition, area, room size etc.