To think current home sellers are living in a fantasy world?

[CanStopWillStop]

We are looking for a new home (out of necessity unfortunately!) so I am now deeply buried in Rightmove.

The most significant pattern I'm noticing is that dozens of sellers, who according to Land Registry bought their properties in 2019/2020, are listing their homes at £100-200k more than they paid two years ago.

Considering the current dire outlook for mortgages &cost of living etc, AIBU to think that this is absolutely ludicrous money they are chasing?

I understand some people may have remortgaged or are looking to upgrade but a £100,000 mark up on a 3-bed bungalow you've lived in for a couple of years is mind-blowing to me. What's happening here? Greed? Desperation? Do they really think people can actually get mortgages on overvalued properties? AIBU?

6 weeks ago our house was valued at £150k more than we paid for it 18m ago by three separate estate agents which is roughly a 30% mark up. I was shocked by that. Apparently similar houses in our area were selling for this sort of mark up. It may have crashed in value since then but I have no idea. Similar houses on Rightmove are still listed at very high prices. We’re in an area with very low housing stock so possibly if we wanted to sell we could at that valuation or something close to it.

Yeah funny that, and all these people asking questions about their kids, spouses and everything. It's almost like it's a forum for people to discuss their own lives anonymously and rant about whatever's bothering them with no regard to whether other internet people have no interest in their topic of choice...

This confirms it then, it's definitely a pattern! I thought perhaps it was just the area I'm looking in. So interesting, I think I would be tempted to sell also if an EA said I've got 150k equity after a year and a half lol

Because this is exactly what happens before a crash.

That's so surprising to me, I thought agents would be pricing to sell before any imminent property crashes!

No, why would you price things cheaper BEFORE the crash has happened?

A seller may put their property up at a cheaper price if they're desperate to sell, but until lots of people are desperate then the higher prices are the right valuations.

Different areas of the country will comprise different markets. There are a lot of people looking to rent and buy in London who had moved out during Covid but are now back. There is a bit of a shortage of property. One of my adult children accepted an offer this week (selling a one bed flat in London). There are certainly buyers out there. Some are people who saved a fair bit of money during covid as they were having no holidays and not going out. Others might have been saving for years and now is their chance to buy a first flat.

It is certainly an interesting time with interest rates rising to their normal historic levels (although not quite reaching the up to 17% I used to pay in England, nor the 13% we fixed for 10 years at in the 1980s)

It will sell for what someone's willing to pay, that could be more or less than market value.

They are also trapped if they are buying.

Same.cycle.
If they sold to you 200k cheap they wouldn't be able to buy what they wanted to buy.

it does feel like kicking the can down the road atm, and eventually someone will be stuck with a 500k bungalow that's really only worth 300k and will end up in negative equity at some point during the crash

Its quite remarkable.

Agree
A 1 bed flat in London I bought in Feb this year for a family member I have been offered £90K more on. Post comes almost daily from estate agents trying to get a 1 bed in the building
It was a bargain when I bought but still.

U ok hun? Is this the thread you want to spend your Friday night on, or do you have other places to be? Because all I have is Rightmove, Mumsnet and a large bag of wine so please, let's not do this tonight...

Same around my areas, look on rightmove under previous sold prices, 3 Bed semis sold for £220k in 2020 and now being put on for £330k plus and people taking out mortgages and paying said prices are now moaning because they can't afford to pay any more on mortgage because they've over leveraged themselves and interest rates are going up, a 50% increase in a couple years is just unsustainable, but there are stupid people out there paying said prices

@Xenia's theory makes a lot of sense, I guess I am fortunate to be one of those buyers in a good position, but I just haven't seen valuations like this before and feels like bad timing to buy if I'm honest because I don't know how long these valuations will hold

I was thinking this! Coupled with the fact interest on mortgages has gone up as well, surely they will start struggling to sell

Zoopla says the same about ours. It’s a matter of sublime indifference to us because we don’t want to sell but you can bet your bottom dollar that’s where the agent would look to provide a valuation.

It's mad isn't it. We are moving area so unfortunately our hand has been forced, although perhaps we will consider renting for a couple of years instead. I must say, I've also seen a few sellers reducing their prices now so perhaps the needle is shifting slowly

Similar experience OP - there is a 3 bed bungalow for sale in the area I'm interested in for around £525k at the moment. From the photos it's obvious it's unlived in and has been for a while (no furniture, overgrown garden etc). Found the photos from when it previously sold only 18mths ago for 450k when it actually looks better!! (Same very dated decor but it looks like an elderly person's home - clean, tidy, well kept garden). I guess the seller had planned to renovate/extend it but for whatever reason has left it untouched and now wants to sell it for a lot more!

Both times I've sold there have been these conversations around about how things are overpriced crash coming blah blah. Both times it's take a while but I've sold at the price I want . There's no crash coming . Prices will go up. Wait if you want OP but I'm sure you'll find houses more expensive in a year

You forgot one small detail - you can be "willing to pay" ONLY as much as you are "able to pay".

Given that what most of buyers "are able to pay" comes from borrowed money, the interest rate on mortgages is bound to have a lot of impact.

Not tomorrow morning, but pretty soon for sure.

I remember 1989. I bought my little house in 1987 (in SW London) for £125k. The house next door sold for £189,000 in 1989. I sold mine in late 1992 for £155,000 having made it perfect. Those that were tired were sticking at £120/25.

I have a recollection of repayments on £54k reaching £800ish pcm.

It's all cyclical. I think prices are at the top. Houses in good nick and good locations will always sell. Others will not.

We put ours on the market last year, valued way more than we expected and encouraged to put on the market for way more than we expected. We bought cheap but did do a lot of work in 3.5yrs so expected an increase but not so much. We did:

New floors throughout ( laminate, wood and carpet) including chiselling up half a dozen layers of old flooring.
Every single room decorated, old gaudy wallpaper ( LAYERS OF THE STUFF) replaced with mainly neutral colours, one room more modern.
Attic door extended and attic boarded for storage. - attack not accessible previously.
Giant water tank and 1970s built in wardrobes ripped out of every bedroom creating so much space.
Brand New kitchen.
We did reduce a room to put in a walk in wardrobe and en-suite, walk in shower and extremely expensive suite, sourced at cost from a bespoke company.
Brand new boiler and radiators throughout.

Even after all that we only expected the increase about £30-40k but agents encouraged £80-100k more.

As expected, no offers. When new agents came in, ones we bought off, the first thing they said was drop the price. They knew exactly how much work had been done but knew realistically we would not get any offers close to asking.

Tbh during covid house prices soared. I was looking pre covid and bought during covid. The market has completely changed, particularly where I live. Houses that I viewed at 140-180k are now 220k-260k and they are selling at that price.

My friends parents bought their house for 90k 199 got for it valued the year before covid at 240k. Sold it for 370k which was 15k over what it was listed for. ( completion complete they moved out a couple of weeks ago)

They won't be.
Higher interest rates.
Affordability issues
Prices will be reduced.
Not a massive crash as we have a shortage of supply but a correction downwards.

People must be able to afford repayments for the whole thing to be sustainable.

So you are wrong.

@Cosmos123 well neither of us have a crystal ball but I am pretty sure prices won't reduce . This country is weird about house prices !

Careful don’t let the mask slip, you’re meant to be a mum of two who is chatting merrily away at whatever just pops into your head. Keep to the script