Slump in south London property market?

[nextchapterplease]

Hi our house is on the market - early days but we were led to expect it would sell quickly and easily.
Now the agent tells us the market has been extremely quiet since before Easter.
They think it's being affected by the referendum and won't pick up until the outcome of that is known.

Just wondering if anyone else is in same boat or whether this isn't a real issue - just that we are maybe over priced and impatient!

We can see quite a few in our area have been reduced so there clearly are others not selling as quickly as they were a couple of months ago.

Interested in others experiences as we have found our dream home but will lose it if we can't sell pronto.

[Fingersmithismyfavourite]

Our neighbours sold within the week but they accepted an offer 150k below the asking price (which was they admit ridculously high), We are in Tooting Bec and nice houses on our road go within a month. I hear in Balham though just up the road nothing is selling...who knows?

[concertplayer]

There was an upward trend in many places to beat the Stamp Duty tax on Buy to
Let up until the end of March. The government intended to cool down the market
by doing this but to what extent this will work is not known yet. Some people say
this will just make landlords push up rents which in turn will cause people to want
to buy even more. The Referendum will have an effect so I would say it will need at
least another year or two to let things settle down.
London has always been different from the rest of the uk. Foreign investors,
specialist jobs But I tell you this if interest rates either go up to more than 4% or
into negative - 2% then we could see further banking crisis, the pound will crash
and the investors will go elsewhere possibly . This is the result of succesive
governments policies to housing at the expense of encouraging people to
invest in other things leading to developing industry etc

[nextchapterplease]

Thanks for replies - trying to hold our nerve.

[RaspberryPi1]

Where in south London are you?

[BettySpaghettiHasLostHerHead]

We are south London - market is dead here. Although 20 miles south my friend says houses are going like hot potatoes. Having said that we are in very different price brackets so I think that makes a big difference. Seems to be the more expensive houses are selling much more slowly.

[CocktailQueen]

We sold mil's house in march in Wimbledon the first day it went on the market - before the increase in stamp duty. Maybe that has had a big effect? And now the referendum is having an effect too?

Where are you, op?

[nextchapterplease]

Yes we are Sw19 and a typical London terrace - nothing grand (Though prices do seem eye watering!)
We have been watching for a while and everything seems to sell but now that we are banking on it I am so worried! There seems to be quite a bit on the market too.
cocktail yes maybe the stamp duty did skew things but our agents seem genuinely surprised it is so quiet.. Typical bad timing for us as if we don't sell plan b is not actually one I can really cope with ( but will have to !)

[FrikkaDilla]

Just reduce the price you are asking. You say yourself that prices are "eye watering". People are fed up with over-paying.

[CocktailQueen]

Yeah, we were pretty shocked at prices when we sold. How can anyone afford to buy anything there?

Chapter, could you post a link to your house?

[EssentialHummus]

I'm in SE4 (Brockley) and seem to live on RightMove. I can't comment on open days etc, but I've noticed more property being reduced in price, and also very slightly more reasonable asking prices in SE4, SE14 and SE13 (Lewisham, basically).

[Sallyingforth]

Don't believe a word the agent says.
They will always tell you they can sell the house quickly and at a high price, to get you on their books. Then you will find out what the market is really like.

[dollylucy]

I recently sold terraced house in Sw19.
I don't think they are currently reaching their asking price.
I think a couple went before Xmas at a high price and the estate agents added a bit extra on that, chancing their luck, but don't think they are going.
Pm me if you want

[lalalonglegs]

My hunch is that the pricier parts of SW London have been festering for a few months - people, even people on a very good City wage, can't see the value any more and three people I know tried to sell their typical Victorian terraces last autumn: two took lower offers than they expected and one couldn't sell at all. The BTL stamp duty issue did perk up the market for properties that could be obviously rented but the up front costs and the fairly low return don't make family houses such an attractive prospect. The referendum means that no one is willing to tie up their money until they know the outcome but even if we remain and the market loosens up a bit, I think there are some danger signs/black economic clouds on the horizon and I would be surprised if it soared away.