To ask about experiences of selling property in London now?

[gardenangels]

Conflicting reports from estate agents. ..

Or - The very idea that people should expect prices to fall and others to lose money just so that they can live inside the M25 and have a shorter and cheaper commute so house prices can be slashed for the benefit of those who could not afford houses in the first place is so selfish.

You want other people to lose money so that you can live where you want. Even if some of them would be financially ruined. That's just a different kind of selfish, sorry.

fine. we are both selfish.

hope i get what i want

i currently dont have anything to lose......

My view of the market is that you quite possibly will, in certain areas at least.

Hope it comes with a Diet Coke style topless window cleaner and no curtains

If the OP is still around after pages of philosophical house debate

I'm in NE London and have heard of a couple of buyers pulling out in teh last two or three weeks. But one of those went back to market and got four offers on the same weekend, and the other is hoping to get a higher price now as the original sale was agreed just after Brexit. So here it seems quite healthy.

Also for the moment, the bank has just lowered interest rates so borrowing is at its lowest ever. We're looking to remortgage next year and can add money to our mortgage and still have lower monthly payments.

Now this could all change in the next 6 months, but for the moment mortgage rates don't look like going up.

Hey. Maybe I'd like that*

*in DP's dreams

temporary

Temporary you do get that house prices are not where they are because of some free market? Government intervention has sustained the bubble. Essentially, non owners have been subsidising you. From the fact that you think a drop in value will affect owners anything like as badly as the current situation affects renters, I gather that you don't really understand the basic facts. From the fact that you think owners have some sort of financial or other superiority that provides a reason, beyond timing and luck, why they own and others don't, I gather that you don't understand the basic facts.

A couple who bought a house together....if the had met five years later, no house. Same salaries, same people, five years later. Any young person now starting work.....oh sorry, the older generation used government support to inflate their house value so you are out of luck. At one time you could buy a home but in order for us to sustain a huge unearned profit you'll be paying astronomical rents for life and...er.....good luck in retirement.....a tent perhaps?

If your life had worked out so that through age or circumstance you had to buy for the first time now Temporary, I dare say you'd be stuffed.

Stop pretending those in an impossible position are wishing some great suffering on others when all they want is just the slightest evening of the playing field.

You're assuming I don't understand the market because I'm playing devil's advocate on a messageboard by saying that it's not so black and white as to rub your hands gleefully and say, "ooh goody, looking forward to a nice crash," which was what a PP did?

That's quite a stretch.

Ah, ok , you're just pretending not to understand. Got it.

Oh bless you.

I think there's probably a left in the tin, do help yourself.

This thread has given me a real laugh today- totally enjoyed reading all the catty comments.

One thing about property and prices that will never change- discussion about it certainly gets some people's knickers in a twist!

Thanks for the replies. Is anyone trying to sell in London at the moment?

I am currently selling in London. Zone 1, 1 bed been on the market for 2 months. Maybe 10 viewings but no offers and we have just dropped the price. Very different from pre-Brexit. Estate agents seem to be in shock!

Thanks I am quite concerned as the market is so hard to read.

Overall surely it would be better for the majority of people if prices in London dropped a bit.

For people who do own property and want to sell:
The value will drop, but assuming they are selling to buy something else, anything they choose to buy instead will have dropped by a similar amount so it cancels out.

For people who do not own property and want to buy:
They can actually get on the property ladder

A few people who might be disadvantaged:

Baby boomers: Planning to downsize for retirement, they wouldn't have as big a nest egg from downsizing. However, assuming they have lived in the property for a while, the property is still likely to have significantly increased in value over the time they have lived there.

People selling to move out of London:
They wouldn't get as much as hoped for their property, so wouldn't be able to buy as big a property outside of London. However, assuming they have owned their property for more than 5 years, it has probably still gone up in value so much the drop would be small.

Overall surely it would be better for the majority of people if prices in London dropped a bit

A stabalisation would be great for everyone. No one drops into negative equity. You can size up and down no problem. You can save for a deposit without prices getting out of your reach. Gives wages a chance to catch up.

Obviously value will be lost in real terms (inflation, innit) but you won't have people 'trapped' in negative equity which stalls the market.

If prices fall, prices fall for everyone. The step up between flat and house doesn't get any easier.

Not true. Basic maths please!

Year x - Flat costs £80k and House costs £100k. Difference £20k.

Year x+1 Prices go UP 10% - Flat £88l and House £110k. Difference £22k which is MORE than it was in year x i.e. harder to save up and make the move.

Year x+2 Prices FALL by 20%. Flat is now £70.4k and House is £88k. Difference is only £17.6 k and now EASIER to make the jump.

yello- I think it's too late for stabilization.

Maybe a few years ago, when property prices were in reach of the average working Londoner. Now they are so far beyond that, stabilization wouldn't help anyone who wants to get on the property ladder, unless it remained stationary for a good few years, giving them a chance to save up for a deposit.

I do worry about the general basic numeracy skills of a lot of the UK.

I'm a home owner who would like to see house prices falling in London. They are utterly ridiculous at the moment.

Not a message directly related to selling in London right now, but got this text from Barrett London this morning.

A sign of market optimism or pure and utter madness?!

SE8 is the Deptford area of SE London, bordering on to Greenwich.

turquiose I think it has been for sale since July and just is.not.shifting:

Link

I don't know what developers are thinking, tbh. I'm not far from Deptford (which is genuinely nice these days, imo), but I wouldn't pay that. We also had a new development launched yesterday on my patch - £800k for three bed houses. I don't see it moving v fast - and who the hell launches mid-November?

An earlier development with little 2 beds for £435k, on an old vacant lot, is also not shifting.

As I said earlier we are trying to buy, and see a lot of nice houses, but they just aren't moving. (I'm married to the fussiest man in England, or I'd have bought by now!)