To think all this talk of a roaring house market is rubbish

[womty]

Or at the very least very localised?

I'm in SW London & in the last month or so almost every 5th house in my area has been put up for sale, some for prices that made me question whether we should do the same. Except now they are getting reduced by 25k plus (houses look pretty much the same) and are still sitting on the market. Plus for many who bought after 2015 the prices are only about 50k higher which once you factor in stamp duty/work is not great. Just me?

Sold in 2 weeks for little under we wanted in return for cash buyer. Market seems buoyant around here.

@time4anothername I'm confused by that too.

Oh we're in the South East commuter belt, moving North to get more for our money now we both WFH.

Things are good for the time being. See what happens when furlough ends and more people are made redundant.

What is happening with house prices reminds me of around 2005 Prices were increasing rapidly in the North West. I bought my property that year and the crash happened a couple of years later. I sold my flat at a 50K loss. Prices have never recovered. Of course this doesn't apply to the whole of the region, but it happened in some areas.

Maybe we should move before we are priced out.

Is wfh going to be the norm then with very few trips to the office/hub?

Several houses on our estate have gone up for sale in recent weeks and all have sold immediately, in fact the for sale boards on three houses on our close have gone up with the sold sign on straight away.

We’re in South Staffordshire.

So where is all the money coming from then to pay for these increases? It is not coming from lenders that is for sure.

@ZaraW is there usually a frenzy before it drops off? Thinking about it, a friend who was furloughed bought a bigger property in June. She knew she would be made redundant so wanted to do it whilst she could still include her salary for lending. I thought that was crazy because they will struggle until she gets back into the job market but her argument they needed space & might not be able to afford later.

who's buying the London houses?

I have had an agent in today, going to put in market next week

She said it was crazy and houses going in days for over street ceiling prices - I've known her over 10 years and she's not one for lying

(Nottinghamshire, she mentioned London was very different as people looking further out now so much more wfh)

@womty I don't really know as it was my first property purchase. I'm now based in Nottingham and prices have been rising rapidly in my part for the last few years.

I have a friend who is a surveyor who advises don't buy for at least a year to see how Brexit and the fallout from Covid-19 goes. I'm not in a hurry to buy. I've learnt from my first property purchase no way I would be buying just now.

I feel very inexperienced & my parents are immigrants who bought later in life so can't advise me on much either.

I have a relative who works in the housing market and he has never been busier in the last 25+ years, he is inundated. He doesn’t live anywhere near where I live, but houses are being sold in record time where I live too.

There genuinely is a boom going on.

I'm on the outskirts of Greater Manchester and average family type houses are going in under a week. Just put ours up, which was valued at far more than I expected and have 4 viewings already, just 2 days in.

Do people need to live in London now with so many working from home? Maybe companies are realising that WFH is going to be here to stay. If you only need to go in once a week, then you can live further out.

It seems that the London market is depressed but areas easily commutable into London are flourishing. Houses in the areas we’re looking in are going SSTC within days of going on the market.

Being sold before they hit Rightmove round here! Mostly over asking price. My friend missed out of 4 or 5 in last few weeks having offered asking as they left the viewing of 2!!

Where I am. Northwest anything decent is going STC within a couple of weeks.
Think it's just the house in the price range I'm looking at but a lot are going over offer as well.
We rang to book a viewing for a house that had gone up that day.
Were given a date for viewing the week after.
They had 10 booked in.
I put an offer in the same day. They rejected it. They had already had 3 offers 2 over the asking the price.
So not sure if they continued the viewings or what but we just couldn't offer more.
And any I'm putting on my watch list are going STC within 2-3 weeks.

South east. Selling like hot cakes here. Quickly and over, even stuff that was stuck pre covid has gone.
If there’s to be a crash I think the banks will cause it with tightened lending and no parental help mortgages.

As a long term renter I just can’t fathom how anyone is managing to buy.

It’s because of the stamp duty holiday & furlough still being paid. Once those things stop there is likely to be a drop. So if you want to sell, I would sell now.

But someone needs to be buying the London property that people are selling so who are those people? Why would you pay inflated London prices during a remote working revolution & with little chance of building equity.

womty, I think that’s the issue: people aren’t buying London property any quicker or spending any more than in 2019. But in a lot of the rest of the UK the market is crazy busy.

We have a busy market, sales and letting. Lots of people stretching commute times even further so lots of Londoners moving here.

Prices being pushed up and lots of odd complaints being made: muck spreading, chickens, cows, sheep, tractors, mud in general.

All the stereotypes showing themselves.

It'll calm down but is currently causing all sorts of Us and Them ing.

Oh yes, the funfair being the weekend delight. Yes, that grassy field is the community Rec and has lots of uses. It isn't just a view!

In some ways I agree @Bateshotel we are lucky that we didn't pay what our house is "worth" & equity allowed us to trade up however we would need a hefty mortgage for more space & it still would be pretty basic. I would prefer it if less of our income was tied up in housing.