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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be confused about how the property market is so hot at the moment

68 replies

Tuliptuliptulip · 22/04/2021 11:11

I think I must be missing something!? If it's a case of lots of people moving from cities and towns to more rural areas, surely there would then be more properties available in the towns so the prices there wouldn't rise? However prices are going up across the board.

Houses where I live are going instantly, even houses that would previously Sat on the market for a while. There also seems to be a real lack of rental properties too! I'm in the south West.

OP posts:
bottyg · 22/04/2021 13:26

Only if there is a big drop in demand. It might cool slightly when the stamp duty break ends, but the basic problem of there being too many people chasing too few houses isn't going to go away.

Imo it's the low interest rates that have fuelled the prices more so than lack of supply.

Ellpellwood · 22/04/2021 13:32

Low interest rates, people wanting more space, people panicking the houses they want will go up and up. I live in the SW and all the detached houses for about £300k-£400k are gone same day.

Ellpellwood · 22/04/2021 13:33

There's also a lot of gifting deposits going on to FTB, where couples don't want another lockdown with their adult children!

Zenithbear · 22/04/2021 13:33

It's crazy. Lots of cash buyers with deposits from wfh, business grants, savings. We have managed to save a fortune. We usually spend quite a few thousand on holidays abroad every year, plus festivals, gigs, rallies. There are no decent savings accounts available so property it is. It gives you an income whilst going up in value long term and fairly accessible.

Cushionsnotpillows · 22/04/2021 13:34

@BIoodyStupidJohnson although houses are being fought over like the last sausage roll at a funeral buffet,

It may not be appropriate but this made me snort, great description. Grin

Where I am, it's either people divorcing after a year of being cooped up together, having lockdown babies or now working from home for the foreseeable future so need more room/can move further away from the city as no commute/have saved a lot of cash in the last year and want to get a bigger place.

Bluntness100 · 22/04/2021 13:37

This was always going to happen. It’s pent up demand , the stamp duty holiday only kept things ticking over, lots of people held off going to market till lock down was over

Nataliafalka · 22/04/2021 13:37

just about to put my house on the market. Absolutely nothing to buy

Floweree · 22/04/2021 13:39

@Devlesko

It's a good time for property developers and LL. My ds1 has just bought 3 this week.
Eurgh, yuck, greedy greedy greedy.

I don't know OP but it's the same here, seeing what a neighbour has sold for tempted to sell ours haha.

Original poster
Tuliptuliptulip · 22/04/2021 13:56

I would normally be a bit Hmm about btl landlords hoovering up properties, but as a renter, I wish there were more btl round here! The last rental we enquired about the ll had 40 enquiries about it on the day it was put up, and received a holding deposit from someone who hadn't even viewed it!

OP posts:
warmandtoasty2day · 22/04/2021 13:57

@yourfaceisaforeignfood

And cementing a generational transference of wealth that will see those with assets get richer and those without poorer - unless the bubble bursts of course.
but hasn't life always been like that ? look at history it's nothing new. i bought at house 3 bed in se in 1995 for £60,000 is now worth over £350,000 and i'm mortgage free, so it's my fault, now i'm selling at a profit to downsize and giving my dc a lump sum each for their deposits to give them a helping hand? Oh, hang on i shouldn't that as it's widening the gap. well, the gap can fuck off it's about my dc.
Xenia · 22/04/2021 14:00

London is like a donut currently. Some people with high rise flats in the inner London area particularly if they have cladding cannot sell. Anyone selling a house with a garden in outer London has a lot of buyers. My son bought in January at the end of a tube line just outside the M25 - freehold house with garden. He is not ready to move in yet so let it - 3 couples viewed it the very day he completed and 5 the next day and he had offers to let it immediately. I have not seen anything like it for years. They were all moving from flats to wanting a garden and a house because someone was now working from the house. We did not get the first house he wanted to buy even at asking price. The second he did get having made an asking price offer. He exchanged contracts in 17 days - the fastest our solicitor said he had done it for about 17 years (no chain, no mortgage and everyone acting very quickly including the searches coming back quickly and he and I and the solicitor and seller doing everything the day we were asked). (17 days is not typical of course...)

IpanemaChic · 22/04/2021 14:12

It’s possible to sell quickly but there is nothing to buy. Agents are saying that they’ve run out of stock.

Devlesko · 22/04/2021 14:54

Floweree

I'm proud of him he's a millionaire, worked for Asda as a delivery man a few years ago, not yet 30. Bought a house at auction for about 20k he and his then gf saved. It's his job, don't you work?

bottyg · 22/04/2021 15:07

How did he manage to turn 20k into a million pounds in a few yrs? Is he one of the Candy brothers?!

Jizzle · 22/04/2021 15:14

@Devlesko

Floweree

I'm proud of him he's a millionaire, worked for Asda as a delivery man a few years ago, not yet 30. Bought a house at auction for about 20k he and his then gf saved. It's his job, don't you work?

Yeah, a lot of us work, but perhaps we prefer to have a job that doesn't disadvantage others, sucking up the supply of houses and taking what is an essential item and taking it further and further away from those who need it like a parasite.
Floweree · 22/04/2021 15:19

@Devlesko

Floweree

I'm proud of him he's a millionaire, worked for Asda as a delivery man a few years ago, not yet 30. Bought a house at auction for about 20k he and his then gf saved. It's his job, don't you work?

Yes I do thanks, even if I didn't I'm proud to say my job doesn't involve buying multiple properties for my own financial gain while demand is outstripping supply.
Cheeseandlobster · 22/04/2021 15:20

@Devlesko

It's a good time for property developers and LL. My ds1 has just bought 3 this week.
Totally agree with the greedy comment. And its very crass to post this when most of the thead contains posts from people who are really strugging with this Hmm
Marylou2 · 22/04/2021 15:22

It's amazing isn't it. The 3 houses for sale on my road in the last year went within 48 hours for well over the asking price. People have had no holidays, restaurants, nights out, clothes etc and their home has been the focus of their life. I realise how entitled and positivity obnoxious this might sound to anyone struggling but it's an explanation of the white hot property market at the moment.

IncorrigibleTitmouse · 22/04/2021 15:30

@Devlesko Gets my very first Biscuit

ClaudiaWankleman · 22/04/2021 15:32

I agree it's quite crass to boast about your success at buying 3 properties in a week on a thread where many are discussing how much they are struggling.

Then again, it is the level of crass I would expect of professional landlords.

Devlesko · 22/04/2021 15:44

Ha Ha, he and his gf went without for years to save the money, just like everyone else does.
He does tennancies for life, so people rent and maintain the inside of the house, he maintains the outside.
Some he sells on for a profit.
Those needing mortgages couldn't buy the houses he does as they aren't allowed mortgages.
Anyone else is welcome to buy from auction and do the work thmselves, nothing stopping them.

helenoftroystonvasey · 22/04/2021 15:46

Surely it's to do with stamp duty holiday?

Devlesko · 22/04/2021 15:50

@bottyg

Can the bubble burst though? The pain will be immense
Only for those selling surely? And if you don't have to sell you aren't going to if prices are drastically falling. You never lose on investing in property, you lose for selling at the wrong time.
PurBal · 22/04/2021 15:58

I'm in the south West. I think you answered your own question OP. South West prices seem to be particular high. It feels like everyone is trying to get more rural. Anecdotally Londoners moving to Bristol, Bristolians moving into the towns, town-dwellers moving into villages. I have a family member with a flat in central London that is valued 10-15% less than it was a year ago. As for BTL the extra tax has priced a lot of people who used to be able to afford a BTL out of that market, most rental properties seem to be going in a matter of hours from what I can tell and rental prices have shot up. I know people have saved money WFH but it doesn't apply if you used to walk to work... in the summer it was pretty break even but heating our Victorian property 24/7 over winter was crippling and we had no extra money coming in.

bottyg · 22/04/2021 15:58

Only for those selling surely? And if you don't have to sell you aren't going to if prices are drastically falling.

Sometimes you don't have a choice. Falling prices help some move up the ladder & causes others to lose their homes.

You never lose on investing in property, you lose for selling at the wrong time.

Again you can't always not sell & sit on it for years. Plenty of people over-leverage themselves.

It's a bit scary you don't understand this given your dc's "career"!