What is your opinion of the market?

[alliwant]

Is it going up or down in your area? Is much moving? Move buyers or sellers out there? What percentage below asking price is average? DOes anyone actually get the asking price?? Don't want to turn down an offer that might be the best we'll get at the moment! TIA

There's no guarantee that house prices will exceed or even track inflation. Add to that they need ongoing maintenance if they are not to fall into disrepair. You wouldn't apply this principle to a car, so why so sure about houses?

Because past performance is an indicator of future performance, apply that to anything from cars, to house prices to a candidate at interview and you've got as good an idea as you'll ever have.

In terms of affordability though houses are so far from a reasonable salary multiple that eventually they will have to fall. This is taking forever with mini crashes in price along the way quickly dealt with by lowering interest rates to silly figures and printing money. It can't and won't last so unless you have a decent deposit getting into negative equity is a real possibility.

This thread is really interesting. We have a small deposit, are working on building it as quickly as possible, work hard, rent at the mo and are approaching our 30s with a baby on the way. 10 years ago I was sure that by this stage in my life I'd own somewhere, even if only a small flat. I honestly can't see us buying for the next 5 years if not longer. In our area for a really, really poky terrace in a rougher part of the city you're looking at £120k. For somewhere we'd actually want to live it would be about £180k, and that would still be poky. As first time buyers I think we'd need at least £20k deposit, plus fees etc, in order to get anything approaching decent as a mortgage deal. On our-pretty decent-salaries that seems like it's a million years off

You need to get creative pippa, buy a wreck, build your own property, it's what first time buyers have always had to do.

We've thought of the wreck option but are put off by then needing so much money to fix it up-think we'd end up spending the same-or close to the same-amount anyway. Also there are surprisingly few wrecks where we are! There are lots that are very small but they tend to have already been done up by investors. Building our own we'd not thought of. Wouldn't know where to begin but all options are worth investigating at this stage!

Buy the worse house in the best street and spend 10 years doing it up, that's what 99% of people did before the credit flood of recent years when people thought they could walk into a developed house with shiny new stuff and that was normal. It's not, at all. (Not saying you thought that but just that these property programs have a lot to answer for).
Yes it will cost you the same amount but over 10 years, as and when you have the money and without interest charges, plus you can choose the design and know the quality of the work is decent.

We're in SW London and the market is just bonkers. There's hardly anything for sale but what there is is priced far above 2007 levels - and going up all the time. The more ridiculously priced ones aren't selling (or are going for quite a bit less) but the others are selling.

SkelleyBones talks sense.

I bought back in 1992 and surface appearance was just not on the list of things we looked at.

• Does it have enough rooms? Check.
• Are they big enough? Check.
• Is it in the right location? Check.
• Can we afford it? Check.

The bathroom suite was avocado, the kitchen was "bog standard" (according to the surveyer), there was no central heating, it was papered throughout in the most vile textured wallpapers, the carpets were filthy. All of these things could be changed, slowly, over time and as and when we could afford it.

So we lived with the crappy interior and did it up over time because we couldn't afford the nice places.

Having said that, we're struggling to afford the next rung up due to the prices being insane compared to salaries. Will have to go for a dump again no doubt.

I don't think people are unable to buy because they are insisting on new kitchens and bathrooms.

House prices are ridiculous in terms of multiples of the average salary. And since banks have gone back to sensible lending (a good thing in my opinion) prices are going to fall eventually. Where will the money come from to keep them up?

The thing is the difference between the cost of a wreck and a decent house is not huge anymore. I have just done a renovation and it was a huge job and the asking price we paid was still about 10x the average salary in our area and it needed rebuilt!

Agree with noddy and FruitSalad

At least round us, house prices are sky high whether they are "done up" or not. You don't get a bargain just because you're willing to live with dated decor. Maybe that used to be the case but it isn't any more.

Yes, that's true and you have to ask yourself where is this money coming from (now that crazy mortages are a thing of the past) and is it likely to change?

It is people with big bonuses?
Is it couples who each own a property pooling their resources to buy their first joint property?
Is it people relocating from more expensive areas?

It feels like it should be unsustainable, but it clearly isn't in the short term. I guess it's all about who blinks first, and as someone said up thread the markets are all about confidence, rumour, following the crowd.

But in the UK there is also not really a lot of housing stock, and in many areas not enough of the right housing stock.

I suspect we'll end up renting, and possibly getting back on to the ladder later if prices fall, or not getting back on at all.

I think most of the money is from people who already own houses and are just trading up/down. First time buyers just aren't buying at the moment, unless they are super rich.

We're in a position where we could buy now, but don't want to in a falling market. And frankly, prices are silly, and I am not keen on signing up for a lifetime of debt for a poky flat! We would rather keep renting for the moment.

The danger is though that prices have been silly since 2004, I sold a shitty 3 bed terrace for £120k that you couldn't have paid me to live in again, the area went right down hill.
Now prices haven't risen since then but they've not fallen either so somebody could be nearly 10 years into paying off that mortgage by now where as the likes of housepricecrash.co.uk would tell you to rent and wait. Just how long do you wait ? And rents seem to be rising.

And all the time you're renting you're paying someone else's mortgage and a bit on top.
And all the people who've paid crazy unsustainable prices? They're not going to sell unless they have to - they'll rent the houses to people who can't afford to buy.
Without a rise massive rise in interst rates and a corresponding increase in unemployment, house prices are likely to remain static-ish.
And the DSS pay enough to keep the BTL landlords in business too.

y Skelley there are people on HPC who have been renting for years always thinking a massive crash is just around the corner.

Where I am, an adjustment in asking prices is what's needed - that's the change I need to see. The differential between what a house was bought for in the last few years and recent asking price is easily 20%, so not wishing neg eq one jot - still plenty of room to make a bit without having to lose anything, and mostly looking at downsizers who haven't sold for 30 years and places needing major re-furbs on top of top market price being asked. These people don't need to sell for now, likely.

Plenty of reductions coming on now - 10%+, even after just a few weeks marketing, so there is hope. There is a limit to how far the market can rise - a limit to the proportion of the population who can afford to buy a 3-bed semi for £400k, or a small 4-bed det for £500k+. It just needs to stop rising.

A crash will need specific factors, but a number of these may well be out of our control, although Gov doing best to prop up the market at current level.

Is depressing to think that our children will face more competition and expense for an education which may or may not result in a decent-paying job just to hopefully one day (in their early forties?) afford a two bed terrace they will be working 25 years to pay for, and their student debts...........

Those that don't need to sell won't, but there will always be a proportion who do need to sell and the market will be established by those sales.

We're in the process of buying and started looking around January this year. Not a single house we've viewed has sold (other than the one we're buying of course) and most are still on the market.

Estate agent told me the market was buoyant, i presume he meant bobbing around going nowhere

Estate Agents will always say that, though, won't they? I mean it would be daft not to!
I've had some very interesting realistic discussions with a number of agents now who are a bit more open, if you show you understand a little bit about the market, and are polite/diplomatic. All I've spoken to know the market is over-heated, and often can't believe what someone has been prepared to offer/how quickly an offer has been placed on a property they know they've priced very optimistically. there are still some buyers out there willing to buy at these prices, but gradually dwindling....

how about this agent here?!

quote: 'Silly offers or silly prices?: They?re flying in right now - ten, twenty, thirty, fifty thousand - even one hundred thousand less than some asking prices! But are they that silly? In many cases No - it?s get real time!'

Bank of England held rates again, we are counting the days until we come off our fixed rate and our mortgage will reduce by £600 a mont, which will be going straight off the mortgage. Sure rates can go up but who is going to be the one to cause the homelessness of thousands, Mr Cameron, I don't think so he's hanging by a thread.

Good to see an agent doing some proper negotiating.

One step forward, two back in my small town. In the last three days:

4 SSTC/Under Offer (all at the top end of the market, this is typical)
4 New listings
9 Reductions
6 Houses back on the market after being SSTC.

Rightmove really needs a recently sold feature. Stock is piling up here. Sellers point to similar houses on the market and say 'look we're cheaper', but those similar houses have not sold, nor are they likely too. Comparables of actual sold property... well there are hardly any. We need agents who are prepared to actually manage the situation, but as long as the 750k plus houses are still selling I think they can't be arsed.

Our house purchase has just fallen through. The surveyor downvalued the house and combined with a poor structural survey and another critical independent specialist report, we decided to proceed anyway post price renegotiation. The sellers refused to shift an inch so we have parted ways....a few thousand pounds lighter for the experience. And for those who remember - yes, this was the house that the MN jury advised me to walk away from at the offer negotiation stage at a certain point and I ignored it! So, that's another SSTC statistic that has gone back on the market a few weeks later.

I live just outside York and although I don't know how house prices are doing, houses are definitely selling more quickly than they were when we moved here last year. Time from For Sale sign to Sold sign is sometimes only a few days or at most a few weeks. Although it looks like the conveyancing part is taking a bit longer as the Sold sign hangs around for a while.

There's quite a few two and three bedroom houses up to about £250k which are going quickly although the slightly bigger and older properties are sticking around for longer. There is one house that must be over priced which has been for sale for over a year now - wonder when they will put the price down?

My interest is purely theoretical as am renting and likely to for ever but I do find the subject interesting.