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 may be wrong but I don’t think new builds accrue value in the first few years in the same way a ‘second hand’ property does. If I wanted a new build home I would probably go direct to a developer and get the full benefit of the 10 year warranty.

You mention it’s also been landscaped. Have you possibly left no room for new buyers to add their mark to the property?

As others have said, it always comes down to price for most buyers.

If you paid £550 you are expecting to make £100k on a house that is new longer brand new and in a terrible market . Unless you're desperate I'd take it off and wait a year to see how things pan out.

Much as I’d like a nose round your house, posting a link won’t help in this case

house prices are not moving upwards very much. People are hesitating about moving, interest rate going up, it’s not a good time to move.

good that you unpaid in 2020 as now that gives you a better profit if you sell at lower price than the agent initially valued

The market is dead right now. Nothing is selling here.

It is a difficult market OP. My other wonder is whether you have done every room grey? I love grey, but you can't overdo it and there are so many houses for sale with grey walls, carpets/floors and furniture in every single room including kitchenandbathroom(s). It looks awful and costs a lot to sort out if the property is otherwise turnkey.

You may have 4 beds and baths but what is the living space like? I live in a 4 bed but as its built over the garage that is attached to the house the upstairs is bigger than the downstairs part and all that's in the living room is 2 sofas and a tv.
4 bedrooms can easily mean 4 or 5 kids. Is there enough space for 6 or 7 people downstairs?

I think the market is appalling atm (according to friends in the business) but also there is (ime anyway) a weird price drop that happens with second hand new builds. We have owned two and sold both within 3 years and never made our money back despite creating lovely gardens and neutral interiors. When there are actual new builds available in the area, people prefer those, also a newish estate isnt an established one, can be a bit souless somehow, and some buyers wondered why we were selling so fast. We had an amazing corner plot, 4 bed (all true doubles), 4 bath, a short walk from a train station, and we were in a thriving market. Sold for £30k more than we bought which covered our moving costs but we lost on that one.

If i was being really picky, i might wonder if the single might be holding you back a bit? If you can fit a double in there without it looking silly/forced, i might be tempted to present it as a double. Is it an office or dressing room atm? People may then see it as a 3 bed house...

There is far too much uncertainty in the economy right now due to a variety of factors.
Since you purchased, interest rates are a lot higher. Your house is very expensive and now even more so because of interest rates.

I assume it’s a managed estate with an extra charge on top of council tax - definitely puts some people off.
i live in a village where houses sell really quickly. One of my neighbours put his on the market 2 to 3 years ago and it sold within the week. He then changed his mind about the sale. Second time around the market is pretty sluggish and it’s not shifting.

It’s not the fact it’s a new build, people will spout about losing value but that’s pretty unusual for 5+ year houses. You’ll have enough local data by this point.

I suspect the market is really going to stall at the moment with the insecurity in the world right now, and that tends to hit homes in the ‘upsize’ bracket more, as that tends to be more optional than entry level homes. People upsizing can more easily put it off until it feels ‘safer’.

Conveyancer here - I have Clients dropping out like flies due to war/financial crisis. At the moment, I'm not sure our business can survive due to lack of movers.

It’s a shame you didn’t accept the £690k previously. Sometimes cashing in and being decisive best way. In holding off, the market has now changed. People are much more cautious and who can blame them? Goodness knows how Iran war will impact interest rates, higher value homes face large council tax rises not to mention cost to heat. It will likely sell but not at price you hope for or as quickly as you want. Option to cut losses when that happens or hold off upsizing until things stabilise. In a year or two it would be annoying to find it has regained its value and you sold low end? End of day it’s always the case that a house is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Homes over £600k where I am have been on market for months and years.

Houses have always sold incredibly quickly in the cul-de-sac I lived in and my house was no different than any of the others. However, it was on the market for months with a fair amount of viewings before somebody put an offer in and they actually ended up spending more because Purple bricks had taught me into a reserve. Just hang on in there.

I can't for a minute believe the estate agent has accompanied 10 prospective buyers around and have not feedback. Have you asked them to be brutally honest? I mean brutally honest?

Are you selling through a high street estate agent or Purplebricks type set up?
Are you selling via some kind of modern auction type system?
Are you asking for offers over?
Are the agents suggesting you reduce the price?

nothibg Selling at the moment, mostly down to the conflict in the Gulf.

I totally agree about the grey! One Rightmove listing I saw I thought the pictures were all done in black and white as EVERYTHING was white or different shades of grey. It was absolutely awful. Such a shame as it was a lovely 1930s house but putting all of that right would have been too much work.

Wages have stagnated to the point not many people can get a house over £500k. The affordability rate has declined massively.

Pointless post if you're not going to post the link.

You’ll have to be patient. Interest rates are rising, the economy is about to dive (again), there’s going to be issues with the harvest because of a lack of fertiliser, the government has made it harder to hire people, etc.

Also - is your place freehold or leasehold, and if the latter is there a service share payable annually? I would expect so if it’s a new build, and that cuts out a vast number of buyers as those charge are hideous over time.

Tl/dr: nothing is selling right now unless you drop the price so far that it’s a steal.

It's the price. If everything else about your house is as you say then the price is the only thing.
Forget about the offer you had in 2022. The world is a different place. The house is only worth what people are willing to pay at the time you want to sell.
If you want to sell now you need to drop the price. Sorry. Or wait a while and hope things pick up.

New build always depreciate like cars. We had the same experience and got not much more than we paid. New builds are not comparable to mature houses- gardens tend to be smaller, less character, often more near neighbours. If yours is one of the first to sell theres no precedent.

It’s always the price!

The only reason is price, if it’s worth the price you want to someone then it will sell. Three newish builds on my development of 80 houses have all sold within days of going in the market during the last 6 weeks (575-offers over 800k price range).

Always use at least two agents to get them to compete, even if it costs a bit more.

Houses are quite random goods. Some can sit on the market for ages and then attract attention.

I think there is a lot of uncertainties in the market at this time, so it may be slow, but there are always buyers wanting a house to live in long term who don’t care about the market, so persevere.

Probably absolutely nothing wrong with the house. Thank Mr Trump for making the mortgage market go crazy. We needed to remortgage and literally overnight loads of fix rate mortgages had disappeared and the interest rates went up. So people just might not be able to afford the mortgage on a big house at the moment.

I agree. We lost our en-suite when we moved and it’s been the best thing ever!