Is anyone trying to sell a London flat at the moment?

[shesaidshesleavingonasunday]

Specifically, a flat with no garden. Ours has been on since March just before lockdown with sporadic viewings and no offers. Price lowered as much as it can go. Totally de cluttered.

The problem is not the flat, the problem is the market. If you look at rightmove, no similar flats within a 3 mile radius of mine have sold since the beginning of August. None. We are talking about hundreds of flats.

I am honestly terrified and devastated in equal measure right now.

Please don't tell me oh everyone is moving out of London for the countryside, bla bla bla - I know that full well. It doesnt change how awful I feel about it.

Anyone in the same situation and want to commiserate?

@shesaidshesleavingonasunday it's the price!
I had a flat I sold in N10 last year, I listed it 20k lower than all the other comparable one bed flats, it sold within 10 days and this was weeks before Brexit
We did take a hit of 15k lower but the market was saturated with one beds that were not moving.

Get another agent and go in at 10k lower than all the other comparable flats in the area.

Believe me I know how stressful it is, I've been there 👍

I'm not too far from you - Shooters Hill - and flats does seem to be shifting around here. I only bought my 1 bed last year and won't be thinking about selling for a few years but having looked on rightmove there is alot SSTC between £200k and £350k

I've just looked and the last flat sold in SH was added on 10 August. I think nothing else having sold in the past two weeks is a pretty significant indication of what I'm talking about

A friend has just sold a house just down the road from you in Catford. 3 bedrooms at £520k. It’s nothing flashy if I’m honest and the photos weren’t great but within 24 hours they had 15 viewings and 5 offers, two that were £10k over asking price.

I really do think London has a massive issue with shifting flats at the moment. I feel for you OP, it must be so stressful with another little one on the way

Turnedouttoes

Yes houses are flying off

The reason I dont think lowering the price will help is you can see other flats priced low on rightmove and they still haven't sold.

So stressful. I know a few people trying to sell their London flats at the moment. They all want to move out for more space/garden etc. It’s just a saturated market.

Don’t despair. August is always really quiet in property sales and, on top of this, lots of people I know are waiting until after October before making any calls on property purchases to find out extent of redundancies etc and to see if this pushes the market down. Stamp duty hol aside, everything’s uncertain right now and nobody wants to buy at the top. P.s. if you’re in Hither, avoid using KFH as an agent. They have a reputation for pricing things stupidly high (they’re all complete Del Boys!) and I’ve noticed nothing is shifting with them right now.

Selling is always about the market. Post lockdown young professionals have realised that they don't need to live in a small garden less flat in a not so popular bit of London because working remotely is much more of an option and they can have more for their money further out.

The market will change. It always does - just not as quickly as you need it to.

I'm sorry OP

Would never use KFH, have heard nothing but bad things

I can imagine it’s a tough sale given the pandemic and a hot summer which made everyone desire outdoor space.

In my area, garden flats seem to be doing ok, houses are selling like hot cakes and flats with no outside space struggle.

I think it might get better in winter when people have long forgotten about sitting outside and bbq-ing.

If it’s the market I would withdraw your flat until things settle down. The stress and anticipation is doing you any favours. If you can hang on wait until Spring next year and try again.

Not doing you any favours

Dh is adamant he wants it on the market from September as wants to try to take advantage of stamp duty holiday if we can shift it

Yes, N10 is Muswell Hill. It’s a great place to live.

OP, we had a flat (our other place before we bought our current one) on the market for a very long time. It just wasn’t selling. This wasn’t in the UK. In the end the tenant bought it. We sold it a little below the asking price. So there is hope.
Our friends couldn’t sell their 2 bedroom flat in Streatham for ages too so they rented it out and the tenant paid the rent for the whole year in advance. A bit unusual but it really worked for them.
Hang in there. Maybe get a new agent?

How much did you buy it for and how long ago?

345k, 2016.

Not London, but I live in a city in a house with no garden & finding it very hard to shift. 2 viewings in 2 months! We have had new photos taken today so hoping that will do the trick, but I'm feeling quite disheartened.

How was they second bedroom furnished when you bought it?

I do wonder if you have a cot in there hence ‘we don’t want a kid’s room’ meaning buyers think it’s too small for a real bed.

OP I'm not far from you and have heard many similar stories.
SO many people around me moving, and the other day, even in the playground, I overheard a dad saying he's moving next week to a place with a garden and his friend moaning that she'd love to leave her flat!! It seems every single family living in a flat right now is trying to move to a house/ garden flat conversion.

I have a friend in Lewisham whose flat is right next to a station, in similar price range to yours. Agent told them 1) no one is interested in living close to the station right now and 2) it being summer, EVERYONE is thinking about outside space. The advice being things could look up in the colder months...

And I know someone with a 2 bed flat in Forest Hill, asking 400K and not sold for a couple months now. They have a shared communal garden too but that didn't seem to have helped much .

It seems reasonable to deduce as you did that people are looking at the next rung up. But what about the first time buyers market? 350K would mostly be aiming at FTBs - does this mean then that all the FTBs out there are sitting tight and not buying at all? What's the thinking there?

My flat (with a communal garden and a patio area of my own so felt private) was on the market at the end of last year. The offers were well below the asking price.

Thankfully I got a tenant in February he would like to but the flat but struggling to get a mortgage as lenders as being very cautious

Unfortunately I think it shall be like this for some time and I have o can’t afford to drop he price too much so shall wait until it’s a better time to sell

How was they second bedroom furnished when you bought it?

It was a young, childless couple so it was a desk and chair and a futon bed. Much as we've just changed it to now.

I do wonder if you have a cot in there hence ‘we don’t want a kid’s room’ meaning buyers think it’s too small for a real bed.

That's our hope. Will be able to test that theory when it goes back on with the new set up.

It seems reasonable to deduce as you did that people are looking at the next rung up. But what about the first time buyers market? 350K would mostly be aiming at FTBs - does this mean then that all the FTBs out there are sitting tight and not buying at all? What's the thinking there?

Personally, I think that lenders are being more cautious so some FTBs have lost out on their mortgages, and FTBs themselves are being more cautious as worried about their jobs/holding out for a price crash.

Perhaps the FTBs are looking at houses further out? 2 bed Victorian cottages with nice garden go for 375-400k near me (zone 5) and they seem to be very popular at the moment.

Yes, I daresay they are.

As a FTB currently living in Forest Hill I agree theyre looking to move further out. The one bed flat we currently rent is worth about £315k judging by others recently sold that are identical and for £400k which is under our budget we can buy a 3/4 bedroom house if we go out more towards Orpington/Sidcup.

When I was in the office 5 days a week I was keen to have a commute of under an hour but now I’ll only ever be going back two days a week I’m less bothered about an easy commute and will prioritise a nicer/bigger house. Luckily DP drives to work so location is less of an issue.

I had two offers on my East London flat after about 6 viewings last month.

Overpriced flats are going to be harder to sell. If you really want to sell you will have to lower the asking price or rent it out if you are not in a hurry to sell.

I would not be too worried about all that talk of people no longer wanting to live in cities. Many jobs can't be done from home and suburbia/village living is not for everyone. Cities will always be attractive for social/cultural activities and Covid won't last forever...

London is also more likely to offer job prospects than other parts of the countries as redundancies start to bite.