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Slowdown is creeping out of London....

21 replies

another20 · 06/10/2017 19:48

I live in a small village in Bucks - nothing has completed in the last 9 months - two out of the 6 for sale have just dropped their asking price 0ne by 20% - the other by 5%.....most buyers come from London to here so knock on effect kicking in.

OP posts:
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GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 07/10/2017 09:53

In much of Bucks presumably prices had become pretty much insane anyway.
There's a lot of talk about it all being down to Brexit, and I'm sure that's a factor, but mostly IMO it's down to the fact that prices had become so crazily unaffordable for so many people. It had to stop somewhere eventually and Brexit was the trigger.

We are in a very outer area of SW London, where nothing-special family houses are often priced at £1m plus. I read recently that our area in Greater London is the one where prices have been reduced the most lately, and no wonder. Not that it invariably dawns on sellers eventually that if their house is not selling, and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with it, then it's the price, and it's no longer 'worth' what they liked to think.

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Note3 · 07/10/2017 20:44

I'm south east. Prices still doing well and houses completing regularly.

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Easilyflattered · 07/10/2017 20:49

I'm over the border in Beds. Small market town. The heat has left the market. Our house is on the market and we're getting viewings, but the days when houses in our street were under offer within 10 days have passed.

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NewBallsPlease00 · 08/10/2017 01:54

When you need a dual income of 250k to buy a pretty average house people start looking at life a little differently- less certainty drives many different changes. I'm miles from London and a nice but not wow family house is 450k, a wow one 750k... The ave salary here is more like 38k... People are bored of mortgages dictating lives and the market is stagnating,

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kernowgal · 08/10/2017 13:58

I'm noticing a lot of reduced places on RM here in Cornwall, although those that are a good deal are still shifting within a couple of weeks. The jobs market down here is shite and pay is low, so there was always going to be a ceiling, even at the starter home end of the market. That said, prices still haven't reached the highs of 2007. Thank goodness.

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sall74 · 08/10/2017 15:35

Certainly not crept up to North Wales yet, the market has bonkers here the last couple of months... houses that have been sat on the market for years at ridiculous asking prices have suddenly all been getting snapped up.

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Scabbersley · 08/10/2017 15:38

Market still very busy here in the SW. Just had our house valued at 750k, bought it for 128!

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Coughingchildren5 · 08/10/2017 20:08

I'm in London and prices are still going up and places are being snapped up within the week. If it's priced right it sells, if it's silly it doesn't.

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JoJoSM2 · 08/10/2017 21:45

Coughingchildren, which bit of London are you in? You’ve piqued my curiosity.

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sparechange · 08/10/2017 22:06

Zone 2 SW London here, and there has been a definite slow down and price drop

The houses which have fallen furthest and fastest are the bigger family houses - not the £5m newly-refurbed ones with basement cinemas, but the 4&5-bed ones which families would move to after their big flat/small house

The agents’ explanation is that the usual buyers of these houses - 2 professional incomes - are now selling up and moving out of London a lot sooner than they used to, and either going mortgage-free or Small-mortgage-with-one-income in the Home Counties or further afield

Partly because stamp duty has gone insane, partly because of the scramble for school places, partly because of Brexit and interest rate uncertainties

But the whole market has slumped. Flats are dropping in price and taking longer to sell where as a year ago, things were still going to sealed bids

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yodelehoho · 08/10/2017 23:14

Good. There needs to be a massive "correction" or our children and grandchildren will be living in tents.

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JoJoSM2 · 08/10/2017 23:45

I'm not surprised about the situation in zone 2. Two professional incomes don't really add up to a 5-bedder in a nice zone 2 area. I'm surprised the agent reckons that they can afford the Home Counties with little or no mortgage.

I'm in an affordable area in zone 5 in S London and the difference has been massive. Two years ago, it was difficult to even secure a viewing with open days filling up in a matter of hours and bidding wars ensuing. At the moment, it seems that cheaper family houses (3-4 bedders) are selling ok (but no madness). Larger and more expensive homes are taking ages to shift.

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ohwell02 · 09/10/2017 16:32

South East here. Not sure about flats but 3 friends trying to sell houses 3 bed + are getting no viewings. The idea that there are probable job losses in the UK caused by low pound and higher interest costs for both business and individuals is stopping people who do not otherwise have to move I think. An economic downturn was predicted following Brexit so no surprise

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5rivers7hills · 09/10/2017 16:48

@JoJoSM2 I'm in Z3 east - the more realistically priced houses are selling but the optimistic ones aren't.

However there is a lot of building work going on - there have been 8 loft conversions on my road since January!

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Slimthistime · 09/10/2017 17:26

interesting thread

I would like a correction and I'm a property owner!

I've got a friend who has been trying to sell in Streatham. It's a tiny one bed flat and I thinks she might have priced too high but she is adamant she hasn't - £315k. She will take less but that's the actual listing.

meanwhile in my area in North London, the council are allowing developers to build posh flats everywhere but presumably none of the buyers are going to be UK residents.

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HellsBellsnBucketsofBlood · 09/10/2017 17:33

Still a bid crazy in Cambs, though there's definitely a slowdown for the bigger houses. Two bed semis still rising though.

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Slimthistime · 09/10/2017 18:01

Hells - bid crazy or bit crazy?

in this context, muchos difference Grin

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LadypeneloPee · 09/10/2017 18:04

We too are property owners but would welcome a crash/correction. It's really not good for the nation the way things have gone. It's unhealthy for the country/countries and for people. The Governments have done an awful job.

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Panicmode1 · 09/10/2017 18:08

We are in West Kent and there is a lot of stuff being reduced....and a lot sitting on the market. Anecdotally, friends trying to sell are saying that they just aren't getting viewings, and these are lovely houses which would have been snapped up even 6 months ago. I think that people are concerned about Brexit, imminent rate rises and potential job losses/wavering job security after Brexit so it's not surprising that things are slowing.

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HellsBellsnBucketsofBlood · 09/10/2017 18:54

But.
Bit
With a T
Ffs autocorrect.

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sparechange · 09/10/2017 19:35

It’s very short sighted to wish for a ‘correction’

They don’t happen in isolation
They happen when there are wider economic issues

The current wobbles are because of fears over the economy, Brexit and interest rates. None of these things make it easier for first time buyers. Mortgages will be harder to secure and jobs will be less certain.

Wishing for a house price crash, even if you give it a nice euphemistic name, is wishing for people to lose their jobs and lose their homes and struggle financially

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