Why are there no houses.....

[FunSponge82]

That I like which are in budget! There seems to be big gaping hole in the market from £350k - £450k.

I have looked what was on the market and what sold last year and there's loads I look at and think " I would definitely have bought that"

We sold our house in March, completed in July and have been seriously looking since then and theres zilch. Even the local estate agents are telling me the market is totally dry at the moment.

Couldnt have picked a worse time to try and buy a house.

Whats the market like in your areas? Are prices dropping at all? I could do with a 100k drop. Like that is ever going to happen - sigh.

Similar round here but in the 250-350 bracket, which is the 3/4 bed family home ballpark (in the NW).

There is virtually nothing new in that range coming onto the market and the houses that do appear seem very overpriced. Having done around 10 viewings recently I've also noticed that the majority of places up for sale are either probate sales or relationship break-ups. There are very few people who seem to be actively choosing to sell and move at the moment.

Estate agents all seem surprised that more didn't come onto the market in September.

It's been like this since they anounced Brexit back in the beginning of the year.
Nought like the threat of an unstable economy to make people stay put.

I'm in outer London and prices are going up. Smaller/cheaper houses tend to have a long queue of potential buyers bidding like mad.

Very busy in the South Beds / Bucks area too. I think people are seeing homes in the area selling for good money and putting their properties on the market. I have a Rightmove alert active for two villages around here and more is coming on the market all the time.

Experiences seem very localised.

I can only assume its down to Brexit and now we're coming to the time of year when people dont want to put their house on the market with it being so close to Christmas.

I really worried we won't find anything. I don't want to have to rush into something to move again in a couple of years. The price bracket we are looking at means the stamp duty is crippling and we just can't afford to move more than once.

Is it worth renting for a while?

We're living with relatives while we look and saving in the process.

I'm not complaining about that as our family have been a godsend but we would really like a house to call our own again... soon. Family have said we can stay as long as we need to. TBH I think they like having us

If we go into rented then we can't really save as much as we need.

I never thought it would take a long time to find a house. I thought maybe 6 weeks then 10-12 wks to complete on a new house. How naive of me

At least you have somewhere to say that isn't locking you into a fixed term and presumably you're getting to save more as well - you're in a very good position.

Which area are you looking in?

Yeah, it can take time... We were in rented accommodation for a while and could find anything half decent. When the perfect house appeared, we went to view it a day later and found ourselves in a bidding war... We managed to secure it 10k over the asking price + we had the advantage of being chain free. So good luck - you'll be in a very strong position when something does become available :)

I think the market as a whole is very buoyant where we are (NW) because its very sought after for schools, so what I'd call entry level family houses are coming on quite regularly still. But there is very little in the next step up (say £400-£600k - so 3/4 beds) because whilst people (families) have made a paper profit on their current home, they can't afford to take the next step up. When they do come on the market, the sellers are getting so many offers they're going for way in excess of asking price.

It is a strange market at the moment.

Which house? New build semi with small rooms in less desirable area of an affluent small town or beautifully presented victorian mid terraced in an up and coming small town?

We've just bought (sstc) at 400k (Worcestershire) but there isn't much at that price except big 4-5 bed new builds with tiny gardens. We have probably paid slightly more than ours is worth because of how few there are so we jumped at the chance to secure a large older house with garden.
However, our current house, 4 bed semi 1930s has gone up 60k in 6 years and there also seemed to be a shortage of this size/age in our area which has pushed the price up.

Which area are you looking in ?

We live in a fairly nice 3 bed semi around that price range. We could afford to move to a 4 bed, but have decided to stay put as we then have lower outgoings and an easier house to run. If we decide to move in years to come I think it would be easier to sell a mid range family home than a big one. Perhaps others are doing similar?

Not much at all in our area in that price bracket. We rented for a year before finding our house this summer, we paid about 50k more than we had planned and had to make compromises. I wouldn't say I love the house but the location is perfect.

You shouldn't discount new builds . We have a 4 bed one and it has massive bedrooms . Way way bigger than its older competitors when we bought . And a similar price with stamp duty paid !!