Any Estate Agents able to advise what is going on in the market right now.

[Lunenburg]

Just that really.

I am shocked that there are so few houses coming onto the market and not really sure whether to commit to selling, when I have nothing to buy.

All the local properties on the market before Christmas (even some really tatty ones) have been snapped up and there is just nothing left to view.

If you are an EA what do you think is going on?

My prospective EA is saying just go to market and hopefully something will come along. However, I don't want to sell and then be pressured into a house I don't like or even worse have to pull out.

All views would be really appreciated.

[wowfudge]

What area are you in OP?

[Twittwoooo]

I'de like to know about Cardiff. Same issue here!

[PickAChew]

Isn't that normal for winter? It tends to pick up around Easter, doesn't it?

[Sometimespostingalwayslurking]

Interested in London..

[Spacecadet14]

We're in north London and just after Christmas put our flat on the market hoping to buy a house. It's quickly become apparent that we're on a hiding to nothing - just four new houses went on sale in Jan in the area we're looking (same neighbourhood we're already in) and none of them were suitable. Our EA said it's the worst start to a new year he can remember, with the market slowing to nothing.

[Blankscreen]

I'm in the south east and.i think the over inflated prices are finally stalling the market. Generally things aren't shifting very well whereas a year ago they were being snapped up.

We are in am area that has been affected by the rail strike so that possibly has had some effect.

I think there is a lot of uncertainty so generally people are going to stay put unless they have to move.

I'm not an estate agent but I look on Rightmove a lot!!

[Katkincake]

We've been on since Nov. Did sell but buyer couldn't afford to borrow extra to do work they wanted to do, so back on market. There's about 1 house per week in our town (West Yorkshire) coming on. Had a viewer today who's going to put an offer in, but they want to move quickly as they've sold theirs to first time buyers.

There's nothing we've seen we want and having moved 3 times in the last 8 years we want the next one to be permanent. Looking like we either stay put or sell & rent, (losing early redemption of £6k from mortgage) but if we do we need to be in our forever home by next Jan to apply for schools. Feels the hardest move yet.

[presidentfart]

I'm in Scotland and mine has sold really quickly, I'm starting to panic as nothing on at all!

[Shadowboy]

Our house sold in 16 days. Snapped up. Had 14 viewings (3 of them second viewings) but I'd agree not a huge amount going live. So what is available is being purchased. All the saved houses in my right move profile are sold bar 5 (95 houses saved)

[Lunenburg]

I am in N Yorkshire, searching, York, Harrogate, Thirsk triangle.

Several EA's I have spoken to have agreed, the slowest start to the year that they have ever seen. But no feedback as to why !!

[Honeyandfizz]

I'm in the West Midlands. Went up for sale Tuesday and have had a phenomenal response to the house. Went on with emoov and had 30 people want to view. I got it down to 18 this weekend and have had 5 asking price offers today, 4 from people in rented or cash buyers. I've cancelled tomorrow's viewings and will go to best and final.

That's the good part but now there isn't a single house for me to buy and judging by this I'll have no chance of buying. I've separated recently from h so need to sell!

[lazysummer]

Is it the same in London, where DD is trying to buy? She is looking North London, and there's not much on the market, or so it seems.

[Spacecadet14]

Lazysummer, I'm in north London and if your daughter is looking for a flat, she should be fine, but houses are in short supply. Our EA reckons people were sitting tight because of Brexit and also the top end of the market is stagnating because of the absurdly high stamp duty. So if they don't move, the rest of us can't move up either.

[Lunenburg]

For those who are selling, what will you do if you can't find anything suitable.

I am nervous about just banking the cash and renting in case of bank failure. I am also concerned in case lack of availability starts driving prices up whilst I am out of the market.

My potential EA says just market it and pull out before Exchange if I need too. However, that feels very uncomfortable to me. I don't want to be the cause of stress / misery for other people.

[Honeyandfizz]

I will most likely have to pull out. I have made it clear though to the buyers that I will not be rushed and that I will go with the person who can be flexible. They've still put offers in regardless so hopefully they will wait. One couple says they don't have to move until September latest so that's a good bit of time.

[presidentfart]

I was planning to rent but was hoping it would be a stop gap for a few months the and not a long term thing!!

[PickAChew]

We're not going to be ready to market until the Spring, at the earliest, so hopefully a better balance between a "buyer's" and "seller's" market will have been struck by then. Our house is such a cheapy that we do rather need more of a buyer's market. The market in our area has been fairly stable for years - no dramatic rises and drops and decent houses can sit for years, so we're hoping that we'll have no problem finding something, despite the fact that the area we want to move to is narrowed down to one village in the main, another one or two for the perfect house only and a small town at a pinch, but that'll add 15 minutes to DH's commute that he's not keen on. We can rent if we have to, though. It might actually be the only way we can make this house saleable, since we're shoehorned in, somewhat and the kids trash it as fast as we can fix it.

[Lunenburg]

I think I might have to delay going to market, although I realise that decision just adds to the problem.

If I could understand what is going on, that decision would be easier.

My issue is that I live in the middle of the countryside and it gets very mucky here in winter. Summer is my only real opportunity to sell and even then I know it could take a while. If I miss the Spring start I will be here for another year !!

[wowfudge]

I don't think bank failure is something which should stop you from marketing your house. The proceeds of sale will be protected if you split them between accounts with a max of £75k in each.

[specialsubject]

Bank failure is not an issue unless we get Apocalypse due to fscs guarantee - split the cash as above, and the per licence soon returns to 85k.

Inflation at over 2% is an issue as you cant get interest near that except on the first 40k or so.

[LittleBearPad]

Don't worry about bank failure - just split the cash across lots of different banks. Be careful they aren't actually the same bank i.e. RBS/NatWest or Lloyds/hbos and you'll be fine.

[ggirl]

I did wonder why I was getting so many begging letters from EA asking to sell

[InformalRoman]

An article (Guardian) here explains a little.

If you decide to sell up and bank the cash, you are covered by the guarantee scheme for up to £1 million for up to 6 months - see here.

Alternatively, you could split house sale proceeds across accounts with different banks / building societies.

[Lunenburg]

Thank you for the link to the Guardian article InformalRoman and all the other links re the FSCS Guarantee schemes.

I have to admit to being very sceptical about the FSCS schemes in the event of serious bank failure. Our banks are so interdependent that I think it highly unlikely that one will fail in isolation. If a large bank were to fail I believe it will take others with it and that in that scenario the FSCS scheme will fail. I could see a potential situation in which guarantees had to be honoured by some kind of Bond as opposed to an immediate return of deposits.

That idea makes me very cautious about trusting the only assets I possess to such a guarantee.

Perhaps I need to rethink any thoughts of moving, until the current scenario passes.