The property market

[Jbrown76]

What's going in your area?

Mine has loads of reductions, 20+ houses being added every day, over 1200 houses for sale within a 5 mile of my house. There has never been this many...and it's big houses, band E+ on council tax, are people bigger houses selling due to increase of cost to heat homes in winter? Is it interest rates on a £500k house are too expensive and people are selling up to get a cheaper house?

Similar here which is terrible timing as I want to sell to move in with DP.

Same here - so relieved we sold last year!

Not a huge amount going on in my area

We just bought a few months ago and so glad we did. Usually there are always 5-6 houses for sale in our village but it is dead now. Only properties are either 1/2 bed flats or new build houses which are priced ridiculously high.

We feel so lucky we managed to be chosen out of all other offers for our current property otherwise we would be living with my mother as we had go move out of rented and there is nothing suitable for us to buy.

Prices have dropped a tiny bit in my area of Bristol. It's still competitive with houses being snapped up quickly.

I work in property law and am inundated with landlords wanting me to get their tenants out so they can sell.

Insaw portfolios dropped on market in NW for laat year and a bit. Obvious same landlord. All came always on same day, same agent, similar works inside etc

Definitely a softening of prices & some quite big reductions. Flats without outside space have really stagnated in the last few yrs. Stuff still selling but less coming to the market, some stuff very overpriced though. On my friends road a house opposite is up for 1m & a few doors down 650k, there isn't 350k between the two!

I work in property law and am inundated with landlords wanting me to get their tenants out so they can sell.

Is it the interest rates & because they are over leveraged? I know a few people with a BTL who haven't considered selling but they put down big deposits as opposed to borrowing against equity in their home.

There's. It much going on the market here, and what there is tends to hang around for months and gets reduced at least once before finally selling.

Very different to when we moved here, when buyers were making sight-unseen asking price offers on properties as soon they were listed, and estate agents didn't even have time to put a sign up before they'd sold!

@Oysterbabe thats interesting! I wonder which part of Bristol you’re in, in ours they’re holding strong and actually have gone up a bit. A 2-bed house on our street has just gone on the market for £500,000, which seems insane to me. It was about £300,000 when we bought 5 years ago.

lots of issues at play in the housing market at the moment:

1. landlords trying to sell up before the Band C rules come in for rented properties in 2025 as so many places in the UK arent going to make this standard however hard they try. So in some areas particularly rural the number of rental properties is going to fall like a stone unless there is a u turn.
2. people flipping assured shorthold tenancies to furnished holiday lets because mainly of the above and thinking its easy money (it isnt) they find this out and then they sell up. the number of properties for sale in tourism honeypot areas has soared.
3. New fire regs in furnished holiday lets come into force on the 1st October and they are big change to what exists at the moment. Many people with a furnished holiday let that is either sometimes a second home or one that they fell into by inheiritance etc dont want to spend the money to upgrade for fire regs so are selling up. We live in a holiday hotspot and have done for many many years. I have never seen this number of properties up for sale locally. Even worse in Scotland and Wales where registration schemes for holiday lets and planning consents have been brought in. People just cant make them work any more so are dumping asap.

Thanks @mummymeister
Interesting insight.

It’s the coming end of a massive Ponzi scheme that has been allowed to run for far too long. Interest rates should never have been so low for so long- it’s created a mega bubble that is now popping and it’s going to get worse.

@TheColourofspring I wish I could disagree with you but I cant. plus some legislation with the unexpected consequence of landlords booting tenants out either to sell or to convert to holiday lets.

Yep it's all the 4+ beds that just aren't shifting. The 2 & 3 beds are flying.

It seems people don't want to over-expend and have a huge mortgage on a house that house extra rooms they won't need.

Interest rates are a big part of it for many. One of my landlords is beside herself because her mortgage is going up £600 a month soon, her tenants are refusing to leave and she needs ro sell, she just can't afford it.

Shitloads of houses being sold via auction which suggests houses have ended back up with the bank. Have seen a few houses with tenants in situ. Lots of cheaper cash only buys too.
For the first time in years, houses are starting to appear in our budget where as we were firmly in flat only territory before.

Frustrating here (from trying to buy/ upsize perspective). The ‘big’ family houses are mind bogglingly overpriced, in my opinion by a huge amount. They’ve increased again a further 10-20% on 2022 prices. Nothing selling really but they are mostly owned mortgage free by boomers who can sit tight and just wait.

Weirdly 4 houses have sold on my road and the neighbouring road in the last week. All I would say for high prices and having all been on the market for around 6 weeks. The only one remaining has been on there for ages and is slightly over priced.

Rightmove is "reduced today, reduced today, reduced today". Maybe 2 houses added per day and they're small 2 bed landlord sales.

We could get a relative bargain upsize but we'd be porting 100k on 2% and paying about 6% on the other 100k so it's a hard no!

Loads fewer sales where I am, at the mo. Not much is moving. It's been like that for a year give or take. The prices haven't gone down yet though, which makes me think people are digging in.

London, right? We just missed out on a 3 bed house on for £1.2m - gone to sealed bids, which we just can’t afford to do. Most expensive house on the street before that was £1m, sold in April. It is insanity.

Spot on. I live in a wealthy rural area. There are so many rich retired couples living in small mansions while families pile into 2 bed rentals if they are lucky. Property has been the investment option for many many people for far too long. Aided and abetted by governments of all stripes. LibLabCon have courted the silver vote and they want rising property prices. It'll only get worse before it's gets better as we live in an aging population and the young won't vote 🤦‍♀️

It's not going to end though as it's so distorted, many people are mortgage free & many over 45s will have tons of equity

London, right? We just missed out on a 3 bed house on for £1.2m - gone to sealed bids, which we just can’t afford to do. Most expensive house on the street before that was £1m, sold in April. It is insanity.

London is very distorted because of family wealth. I know 2 people this year who inherited 500k plus and another one who was gifted 200k to move up the ladder.