So, is the market on the rise again?

[lolapoppins]

What does everyone think? Having read a couple of threads about people selling at the mo, it would seem to be the case.

I am, at the risk of outing myself, in mid Suffolk. Anyone know what the market is like in East Anglia?

[brettgirl2]

Don't know about ea. Personally in general I think that it has levelled out and it is just a seasonal increase. It's still really hard to get mortgages and the prices are being supported by low supply.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Very low supply round here - the four houses that have gone on the market in my local area all sold within a week. All fairly priced imo.

[ABetaDad]

Low supply has caused some desperate buyers to bid up in order to move before end of summer but make no mstake this economy is in the toilet. There job losses everywhere and the banks are not lending yet.

The price drop in commercial property is 50% from the peak so residential has a way to go yet. Wait until the Tories get in and slash public spendng. There will be even more job losses then.

[Elibean]

Temporary rise, season and low supply. A bit more supply recently in our area (SW London) but silly prices: personally, don't think it will last into winter.

And I agree re the economy and toilets.

[brettgirl2]

I disagree about the economy, many other countries are now out of recession.

The media love reporting job losses but completely ignore the positives. There are some industries that are in fact currently thriving.

What I think will happen is that interest rates will start to slowly rise. That plus I suspect lots of people intending to sell houses 'next year' does not equate to an enormous rise in house prices.

[lolapoppins]

Thanks. I guess we are clutching at straws at the moments as we need to move, but are stuck. I know we should wait it out for a few years, but the way things are, I don't know if we can.

Of course, it didn't help that we bought our house at the peak of the market in '06. Depending on which EA we speak to, our house has gone down in value from anywhere between 15 and 100k since

[fruitstick]

We've just been gazumped by £25k. However I think the price rises are due to such low levels of sales producing disproportionately wayward results.

The only people able to buy at the moment are people like us who are in rented with big cash deposits. We are all after 4 bedroom family houses with big gardens that need a bit of work. These are the houses that are selling for silly money as there aren't enough of them. The flats and smaller houses aren't shifting, which is putting the mean average price up.

The problem remains that there are less than half the number of houses on the market than normal, and if that is only resulting in a percentage point rise here or there it doesn't bode well for when supply does increase.

[lolapoppins]

Do you know any people in rented with big cash deposits who want to buy my big old four bed house in rural Suffolk? If you do, point them in my direction!

[brettgirl2]

Round here it's the opposite, smaller/cheaper houses are selling whereas anything over 300k just doesn't shift. There are young people who have deposits who have been waiting for prices to drop. Due to the low supply they are selling pretty fast.

FWIW I don't think there is ever an easy time to move, because most of the times it is difficult to sell or difficult to find another house.

[fruitstick]

Also, going forward, with so many students leaving university with over £20k of debt those deposits are going to get harder to come by.

[sunnylabsmum]

we sold within 5 days to a chain free buyer. Had 2 people desparate for our home as in good area, new and sensibly priced, eg we agreed the agent could set the final price as they knew the market. We had bought in 2002 and still made a reasonable profit. House was crucially under the 250K level. We are buying one over this and found much less competition for houses.