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?!

That’s just not true - when the market’s slow everything lingers. In London the market is 80% down, everyone is waiting to see what happens with Iraq.

There is nothing to stop buyers putting in a lowball offer.

Some MNers have thus fervent belief that if you price a property too high it won’t sell, whereas in fact it just sells at below ask.

I think this thread just shows how absolutely mad prices are now though. The assumption is that this is a mid income house, but the mortgage payment for most people would be over £3k per month, and you'd need two parents both earning more than £100k to bring that in line with long term advice on housing costs as a share of income.

Agree, so much of the 00s market was fuelled by huge equity gains & cheap lending. People buying their first property 5 years ago & now maybe thinking if moving often don't have the equity to make the jump. I think this is still just starting to play out. Flats have stagnated and now it’s going to hit the homes that those flat buyers would have moved up too.

Think about house prices and what a lot of money gets you, there aren’t enough people earning the wages to sustain.

What did the OP pay for it?

I mentioned in a previous message on this thread...Several EA's wanted to price our house too high, they will tell you what they think you want to hear just to get your business. I've been watching the market for several months and advised the EA to price £20k below their suggested price as I felt this was the rue price. Even in a difficult market we had 12 viewings. House sold for £13k over our start price in 2 days.

What I had noted, was that houses were going on too high and then the seller was playing catch up by reducing the price several times. After a few weeks on the market, people start to wonder what is wrong with property. EA's don't know what your house is really worth. The market will dictate. A house priced correctly will always sell.
If you are able to watch on youtube ' Moving Home With Charlie' He will explain why your house is not selling. He is an EA with many years experience and gives sound advice to both Sellers and buyers. I would suggest that you watch his ' 10 golden Rules For Home Sellers' he also has '10 golden rules for buyers' which is also excellent. We followed his advice and sold in 2 days. Hope that helps you xx

The EA agent wants your business and knows if the house does not sell, then you the seller, will reduce the price. They still get their commission

There is a really well known firm of estate agents in Dublin where I live.
I notice houses in my area with that particular EA’s board up languish for months and months on the market.
I have seen vendors change said estate agents and their houses then sell fairly quickly.

I think prices are stalling and buyers are more cautious on their affordability than a few years ago. Many people under 40 haven't owned property or known a time when mortgages weren't sub 2%. Now they're back to 4-5% and there is definately uncertainty over if they'll rise further people are rightly thinking they can't afford the same house the felt they could 5 years ago as the monthly cost is a lot higher, or the term would need to be longer, or they just can't afford it if the next rate rise is at 7 or 8% for example. Some very quick calculations assuming borrowing a £500,000 mortgage over 25 years:
At 2% Interest: (approx) £2,120 per month
At 5% Interest: (approx) £2,923 per month
At 8% Interest: (approx) £3,859 per month

You buy what you can afford.
When we purchased our first house in the early 90's, the interest rate was 14.8%

Sure but house prices relative to incomes were a small fraction of what they are now. You can't compare the two scenarios directly.

But 14.8% (for a very short time period) on say £50k is a hell of a lot less than 5% on £250k. Wages havn't risen anywhere near as fast as house prices.

This!

Good points, the "squeezed middle" comes to mind, but I would say FTB are also dropping their bids, their lenders certainly will be.

Wages have gone nowhere really, the house price bubble was used by politicians as cover for this as people felt "rich" as their cheap debt driven asset appeared to always go up in value.

The party is certainly over now though.

https://www.lse.co.uk/news/uk-30-year-gilt-yields-rise-to-highest-since-1998-before-local-elections-6e0b0jeqabuwwew.html

Not to mention they literally had tax Relief on their mortgage applied to their gross salary
So given that taxes were relatively high at the time, they would’ve been saving more than they would’ve been spending on interest

Yes I know exactly why not just your house but many other good houses up and down the country are not selling, it is because of the governments Renter's Rights Bill and a lot of properties being sold off by landlords, a house like yours would have been bought in a flash previously with a good yield due to a guaranteed income at the higher end of the market but now everything is a big unknown and it's a huge risk at that price point for a landlord, private buyers are in a different boat but never the less constrained financially due to mortgage rates, inflation and the cost of living. That is not to say it will not sell, it will but there are not the quick easy sales around now that there were 3 or 4 years ago sadly, even mortgage approvals are tough now.

Interest rates were in double digits from the late 1970s until 1997 - the full term of some people’s mortgage, not a short period. Trust me, the tax relief was barely noticeable, the interest certainly was!

The Mortgage capital was hardly noticeable at less than three times your income too. You Had to work hard to fuck that Advantage up and still plenty of people did.

You’re right. The total interest paid exceeded the capital by around 300% by the end of the term. I don’t know what you mean by fucking up, perhaps you could explain.

I also had 5 young children. Worked in the evening when my husband was home, as a cleaner. My husband was at the start of his career and his wage wasn't huge. We just got on with it and lived within our means. Never claimed benefits. First house was a 3 bed property.

So not dissimilar from many people nowadays, except there is very little chance that the current young can afford 5 children and a 3 bedroom house, even on two full time incomes, because house prices are so much higher now relative to incomes. This is a point which has been made repeatedly but you have still failed to acknowledge.

That’s really representative of how things are today! 🙄

That does depend where in the country you're talking about

Prices reflect the local wages buying power.
If everyone in Burnley suddenly got paid the same as everybody in Basingstoke, the houses would escalate accordingly. The opposite would also be true.
I actually don’t know any logical reason why that isn’t the case, but here we are

I'm talking about on average. Is there somewhere in the country where the local income to house price ration has improved in the last 30 years?