AIBU to wonder why our fairly priced new-build house is not selling?

[Housesellinghelp]

We have a 5 year old ‘new build’ is a very mumsnet ‘naice’ area in the catchment area for some of the best state schools in the UK. A big 4 bed with four bathrooms, decorated very neutral and fairly high end - it’s definitely a nicer than usual new build. Garden isn’t overlooked, triple driveway, neighbours are staggered so not cramped. Three large doubles and a single bedroom (that could get in a double at a push).

We had our house valued by 3 separate agents. All valued the house between £675-£700k. We listed at £675 as we’d like a fairly fast sale. That was 8 weeks ago. 4 weeks ago we reduced to £649k as we’d had 8 viewings and no offers, and we’ve since had a further 2 viewings but that’s it.

I’ve looked at houses for sale in the area and also houses that have recently sold. We aren’t priced above what seems average. We had our house for sale a couple of years ago very briefly and received an offer for £690k but we changed our minds and pulled out of the sale.

The estate agents have no feedback for us either. They say nobody looks around and criticises anything. The only after viewing feedback we’ve had is that a couple of viewers wanted something a bit bigger/a 5 bed.

Any ideas as to why the house isn’t selling?!

I've no experience of selling or buying a new build as we prefer character houses, but when we sold a six bed detached in 2007 and a five bed attached in 2014, the pool of buyers was noticeably smaller than when we sold smaller houses. Admittedly these were both considerably larger than the one you're selling @Housesellinghelp (3500 sq ft and 2500 sq ft respectively), but our EAs both warned us to expect fewer viewings as there are a lot less people out there looking for larger houses, the average buyer wanting a three bed.

Both times we attracted a small number of viewers (between five and eight) but sold fairly quickly because we priced extremely realistically. The first house was initially over-valued (by 100k) by the EA that sold the 'naicest' houses locally. We changed agents, dropped the price by 100k and accepted an asking price offer within five weeks. The other house went under offer (asking price again) within a month, although tbf, I always felt we priced that one too low as we'd found our (unique) onward purchase and didn't want to lose it!

What with the war, I'm not surprised higher priced property is sticking. There are lots near us (south coast) at £1m+ that have hung around for ages, but there's been a few (two and three bed cottages) come on in the 350-450k price point in the last month that have gone under offer in a couple of weeks or less.

However, if you want meaningful suggestions regarding your specific property, the best way is to post a link.

We are in the same position, only had 2 viewers in 9 weeks. We’re now part exchanging ours for a new build. We’re lucky that we don’t require a mortgage. The only reason we’re moving is to be nearer our dd and dgs. We child mind for him and it took me a hour to take him home and 2 and a half hours to get back home last week. I was shattered tbh.

Pointless thread then 🙄

The market is terrible. We would really like to sell our house but we aren’t even going to try in the current climate.

This thread is crazy without a link to the listing. You will get suggestions for improvements or explanations of problem areas. You could have named changed if were worried…

How can the market be down by 80%?
That a would mean a one million pound house would be priced at only £200,000! A property previously worth £250,000 would now be priced at £50,000!
I can't imagine that there's anywhere in the whole of the UK where prices have dropped by 80%.

Just not a good time to be selling, unfortunately. Most people don't feel secure enough about the future to commit to major purchases.

I think it means the size of the market rather than the prices.

I don't think adding the garage to the area of the property makes much difference!

This is MN where people with very little understanding of maths and statistics love to throw around big numbers as facts.

She probably means 20% fewer people are looking to buy at the moment. Or that homes are valued at 20% higher than what most are willing to offer. An 80% reduction is economically impossible.

One of the valuing agents told us that not many people like three storey ( is that your house @Housesellinghelp ?)

Mine is and it has suited us giving privacy to adult DC.
We're on a very high mortgage rate due to not meeting the multiples anymore due to illness. No one will remortgage us so I'm taking the first offer and being ruthless with our final house.

We got caught in 2008 and it looks like we will again! It's very stressful and the statement from the chancellor re taxing houses over £500k hasn't helped. Like your area three beds are are selling and new developments where they pay the stamp duty. Same price as mine but 25% smaller!

Exactly. The whole thread is pretty pointless with no listing.

@Housesellinghelp You have created a brand new username for this thread, so there's no reason to not post the listing. It can't be linked to previous threads of yours. Just show us the house. It will be easier to give proper, helpful responses.

You don’t need a listing to know why a house is not selling in the current market.

You’re just desperate for a nosey.

Always makes me laugh when new builds have as many bathrooms as bedrooms,when the bedrooms are TINY 😩

its a house she is selling that presumably will be on rightmove and posted for the public to see on the estate agents website. If she is really wanting to sell she will post the link anywhere. I did this with my house when I was selling it. Its not just us being nosy, its a public forum.

The mortgage rates have gone through the roof thanks to Trump OP.

On your price house most would need a mortgage. People are watching and waiting.

I imagine your potential buyers will either see the current market as an opportunity to leap frog into a non-estate home that would have previously been out of their reach or be too nervous about the additional costs and difficulty of upsizing from a flat or small house in Birmingham to a larger family house. Is there any reason you can’t wait it out?

Or advice to carry out a full refurb and internal reconfiguration 😂

OP, the only people buying and selling at the moment are those who absolutely have to, given the war and economic uncertainty. The group of potential buyers is therefore much smaller. If you have to sell, there will be a price it will sell at so in that sense the problem is the price. If you don't have to sell now you might be better to wait, but it may be that you are waiting for some time. FWIW I wouldn't expect a new build to have increased in value in the current market. House prices in real terms are down in many areas, and new builds in particular.

How the house is presented makes a difference at the margins but it's unlikely to be the major factor here, unless there is something you haven't said.

Are there any service charges? aka fleecehold.

The only thing I can say is we have been looking for a house, now found one thank goodness. Had to drop 20k on ours and it was immaculate , not a new build but old Victorian terrace with nothing needing doing , everything was new including roof, kitchen landscaped garden etc . We put it up for estate agent valuation , in fact we said 5 k less as we wanted to sell . Anyway we quickly ruled out new builds, too tiny , no character , and a big no no for us was having to pay a monthly charge for living on a soulless estate . Not for one minute saying that’s what yours is but we looked at about 5 newish builds and didn’t like any of them . Ended up with a fully renovated 4 bed bungalow, roof conversion and big extension for the same money as a small 3 bed new build, the 3rd bedroom could only be used as an office . We are older though and I’m sure a young couple would love a new place as not so much to maintain

Mortgage rates will be a big part. We’re looking at refinancing for an extension and the mortgage rate uplift means we won’t think about it for another year. People will be getting nervous about committing. Job market is also terrible

I think people have an idea that a house has an intrinsic "worth" that never falls in £ terms. It doesn't. If there's no demand for it no one will buy it until the price is reduced to a point where demand is higher.

A good example of this is retirement flats. In my area there are loads of these and they can be half the price of a near identical unrestricted property. The reason is that demand for those flats is much lower than supply.

The same is happening with bigger houses. They are too expensive for younger buyers, older boomers are starting to die so too many of them are coming on the market. Prices rose around covid and people are struggling to accept that with low demand and high interest rates, they won't be able to sell for that now. But there are few forced sellers so people are stubbornly sitting on the market for months/years. There are several houses where I live that have been on for over a year.

Rightmove also doesn't always put all the sold prices on. Its owned by estate agents, they don't want you seeing how much the market has fallen. We got our house for 200k under asking but they have never put that sold price on.

I would recommend the podcast Moving Home with Charlie to anyone trying to sell at the moment- very useful for understanding the market and a few home truths about overvaluation in a buyers market.

I would second this, he gave us some excellent advice when I asked a question on his live chat . He does 5 fact Friday every week on YouTube which gives you the current news on the housing market

It's too expensive.
Don't need to see a link to know. House prices are the ultimate test of capitalism.

I wouldnt buy a 'new build' that you have only lived in for 5 years

Lots of people are wary of new builds for various reasons