Anyone else struggling to sell in London?

[alixpb]

I have a 2 bed flat in a good area of North London, admittedly it is expensive at £850 but I've been on since last September and it hasn't sold. I have had two offers in that time, one for more than it is on for now (I ended up lowering the price in the end) and the other for the asking price but both fell through due to their sales falling through. I've also had another person interested but again have to wait for them to sell so nothing will probably happen.

I'm wondering though how people are finding the market as I am literally getting few to no viewings and I've only recently changed agent. A couple of my friends who are selling admittedly cheaper properties in other areas have had their property sold within weeks but I'm still sitting here.

I know it's not price as I have actually had the most interest when it was on at it's highest price (£60,000 more than it's on at now) and since dropping the price twice I've had little to no interest.

I'm just interested to know whether this market is really slow and whether other people are also struggling. I'm wondering whether I'm actually going to ever get to move. A similar flat has also come on recently at £200,000 more than mine so I know my pricing is OK but there just doesnt' seem to be many people looking.

I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences.

I am no longer in London, I moved out a few years ago to Cambridge, but still like to keep an eye on what is happening in Wimbledon. I toyed with the idea of putting my place on the market after the Brexit win last June 2016, but I have held my nerve.

One of these days I do want to go back to Wimbledon. But this General election has really sent a shiver down my spine. Jeremy Corbyn has suddenly become electable, even after all that crap he has endured and with no support from the media he has proven himself. And make no mistake, and I make no judgement here, he will crash the housing market. For a starters he will probably build the homes that the UK so badly need, that is why the like of me and you made so much on our properties because of the deliberate lack of new build.

$60k question now will Labour get into power, and maybe as soon as October. And I cannot personally handle a massive reduction on my home. I might bite the bullet and take a small cut now rather than chase the market down later.

£850k for a two bed in zone 3, presumably without a garden, is pretty expensive in a slowing market. If you bought it 20 years ago and are leaving London then SURELY you can afford to reduce the price?

If she rents it out then she will have to pay 3% surcharge on her next property. And taxes on renting out have increased to stop the spread of buy to let at the expense of firs time buyers.

I agree with others - if it's not selling then the price is clearly too high. The market has been given steroids off the back of all taxpayers for years. It was never sustainable. Get out while you can?

People are insanely knowledgeable about London properties on MN, it amazes me every time! We should have a designated London property section for you all to share your wisdom in.

@Mingles..

I hate these sort of cryptic messages, if you have something to say, say it.

User if that was meant for me - I'm afraid there's nothing cryptic about my post so you'll have to pick your fight elsewhere. I'm just expressing my admiration for the knowledgeable people who regularly pop up on these threads.

I'll be moving into London next year and so stalk London property threads for tips & advice. Unfortunately can't give any though, so sorry for derailing OP!

@ BachingMad

Why is it not a good time to sell now, can you honestly see things getting better in the short or even medium term?
I have a strong feeling that if some people do not get the Brexit they want there will be civil war in the Tory party, and the rebirth of Nigel Farage.

And Corbyn has now proved he was not the joke so many portrayed him as, and Corbyn rightly or wrongly will crash the housing market, he does not care how much they are worth, he only cares about quality housing for all.

wingles whatever you do, don't buy now in London, wait a couple of years as prices haven't reached the bottom yet. we sold a while ago and went into rented.

I've been watching prices in central London coming down for a year now...

I'm looking for a two bedroom flat in central London - Zone 1 and even where I live don't anticipate having to pay more than £700k and that includes a garden. I think for Zone 3 yours is too expensive. For that price in Zone 3 I'd expect to get a house and a garden.

Prices in Zone 1 have dropped between 10% and 15% since Easter and are still dropping.

to the pp who said that jeremy corbyn would crash the housing market that's complete fearmongering that the tories want you to believe. no political party wants to be responsible for a housing crash because a housing crash = economic disaster. i hope he does start building more homes if he gets into power because house prices are a joke but there's no way he'll be able to build enough to make sure everyone can afford one at a decent price such is the lack of supply in this country.

All the rightmove flats in london nw zone 2 or 3 where i look are reduced. And reducing.
If you bought 20 years ago for say 100k then presumably you could still walk away with say 500k if you sold for 600k .so you could buy outside London but maybe not the exact house you were expecting to buy for 750k....
Prices are reducing unless it s exceptional.

Check sold prices not latest on the market prices

It is not fearmongering, if enough homes were built to satisfy the demand so badly needed then sadly the prices of homes at present would fall drastically, some would say that is just an inevitable process that we have to put up with, Jeremy Corbyn would live it the bankers friends the Tories wouldn't

Have you benchmarked?
Friends are struggling to sell a 2 bed in Notting hill at 850. Unless you are in a really swish area you might be overpriced.
The service charges also got out of control a few years back and if you add this to the leasehold ground rent, it may be putting some people off.

In the nicest possible way, does your flat look like you've lived there for 20 years? Are you a bit blind to it needing decorating, updating, upgrading?
We've just bought a house owned by the same person for 22 years and had a hell of a struggle getting the price down because she was benchmarking against other places on the market that were, in her eyes, decorated 'differently' but in reality were lovely and modern and greige vs her primary colour symphony of 90s
The 'competition' is an easier buy when you don't have to do any work before you move in, and people will pay a premium for the lack of hassle factor

There is also a chance that buyers will be put off my how long it's been on the market as assume there is something wrong with it (especially if they've seen it marked as under offer twice) or that you are an awkward seller

Might be worth taking it off the market for a bit and remarketing with very different pictures (and a different agent) in a month or so

You cannot have both, you cannot substain present house prices and build millions of homes or NOT build homes and expect affordable housing.
The only reason I got a fortune for mine because they were at a premium along with the fact that the richest people on the planet wanting to have a home here.

OP where is this flat / what's your nearest Tube stop? I have a feeling you're going to say Hampstead or Belsize Park or something.

sparechange that's exactly what's been happening... houses get taken off the market and then appear back again a few months later. Some have new photos and quite a lot of them are reduced but most don't sell. (Prime central London, Islington, Camden)

Op, what is your flat's price per square footage and your area?

Beijing, thank you! I've seen that advice come up a few times now so we may well follow it. Luckily we can be quite flexible so can hopefully move at the right time (if that exists). As a non-Londoner this kind of stuff is really difficult to find out. If it's in newspapers/magazines you assume it's not 100% as there'll be an agenda. Other than that, as we don't know many people there, we'd likely have to pay for this kind of info so it really is amazing the kind of advice I've picked up on these threads.

Like what has already been mentioned, some have made £500,000 equity in 20 years and they cry because they no longer can get £600,000, pure and utter greed.

I took me less time to get a nice equity pot in Wimbledon, but I know live in a palace in Cambridge using that money, and the quality of life in Cambridge is not exactly Beirut.

My view is based on talking to agents and a friend who is a property developer. It's not a good time to sell because of the uncertainty. People don't want to commit to major purchases unless they have to.

There are posters on this thread who believe or want to believe that there will be a sharp drop in house prices. Therefore, they won't want to buy, even if a price is reduced, because they think there's a chance that if they wait they can get a better deal.

I also don't think that London is typical of the whole country. In some other areas prices are still increasing. London always seem to be extreme - people are either going to open days and forming queues round the block, or jumping off a cliff like lemmings.

Nobody can predict what the future holds, but unless you need to sell I would keep calm and wait. I certainly wouldn't be slashing the price unless I were desperate to sell, if the property is well presented and priced in line with recent sales.

For what it's worth, I bought a 2 bed flat in Bloomsbury a year ago for my DC to live in, but I still keep an eye on the market. Prices there have certainly not gone down, although granted they haven't really increased either. In fact, if I had the money, I would buy another one as I think it's a good time.

At the end of the day it's supply and demand. Thousands of affordable homes are not going to spring up in London overnight. I always thought Nine Elms was a white elephant, but it is not representative.

Ignoring the wider market point. It's really very simple. If you are not selling then it is too expensive.

Therefore you need to decide whether you want to sell come what may and you keep dropping the price until someone is interested. Or you stay.

A link would be helpful, but no one had mentioned lease length or parking issues. Both of these are significant for buyers.

I think to anyone in the real world (ie outside London) that seems like an astronomical price. And I'm not just saying that now as prices are falling. I said the same to a director of a London house builder (former client of mine) pre Brexit. When there is such a massive disconnect between wages and house prices, and between London and regional prices it seems a correction must come at some point. If you are committed to moving I would drop the price significantly and see what happens. You don't have to accept the offers .

I also don't think that London is typical of the whole country. In some other areas prices are still increasing.

Yup. I'm in S London but a landlord in Medway, Kent, and watch the prices in both closely. 3 years ago you could buy a terrace there in fair condition for £125,000. Now it's more like £180,000, and things are selling pretty quickly. There are posh waterside developments on the Gillingham docks. Areas around/commutable from London also get distorted/affected in a range of ways by London - it's not always the case that what starts in London ripples out unchanged.