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 would agree with some of what you say baching and to be fair add that those buying or thinking of buying need to do the same thing and hold off and wait to see what happens, that's if they can.

Fair enough some of us were ruthless when the property market was rising, and I have no doubts that buyers will be as ruthless if not more when prices start to fall.
I am lucky, I have no ladder to climb, I could live and die where I am right now with little complaint. Sure, there is part of me that would maybe one day like to go back to SW19, but just a just a little part, end of the day it is only 100 minutes away.

I can list off the top of my head right now three major potential causes for the property market to crash in the next year or two, in reality it is probably closer to ten.

If you can grab a sell at just short of peak then I would grab it with both hands right now, in 12 months you will wish you did.

sounds like you miss London, user!

I am 45 minutes out, but it really isn't the same. I need to get those pesky kids out, so i can reclaim my flat!

For those of you who think it's about to crash...how much do you think it will go down by in percentage terms? (Wild guesses welcome). I was thinking of making a very low offer on a prime central property which I'm now wondering would this offer be so low or just reflective of what SHOULD be today's asking price (so it could fall even more). The EA is encouraging me to make ANY offer.
For the bearish among you, If you had the chance to buy at 20% below asking (in a prime area) do you think that's enough of a cushion or would you hold off completely ? (Assume it's reasonably longish-term but not forever place). Thanks!

I reckon the right price will be 25% over its 2008/2009 price. Anything above that is bubble, in my opinion.

But I don't actually live in London so perhaps I am clueless

I think Alice is right. But at the moment I wouldn't buy in London unless a) I could live with zero increase in value, or even a decrease, for the foreseeable and b) I was willing to say put for a long while or take a massive drop if things really go tits up.

It's hard to imagine the rapidly changing political landscape we could be living under in the next few years. The possible falls in property prices are beyond what most people could imagine.

Prime London has slowed right down. OP, I know that you don't think of you area as prime but... Two bed flats are typical first time buyer properties. Your FTB would need 150-200k of savings to afford a tiny deposit and the stamp duty and an annual salary of over 200k to get the mortgage... Very, very few people have that kind of money to spend on a flat...

I live in zone 5. For that budget, you can get a decent detached house. Two beds flats tend to go for 300-400k. The market is pretty buoyant with a lot of properties selling on the open day. Some friends are in the process of buying a 2 bed flat for 250k in zone 6 in SE London. It was a real battle to secure it - I think there were over 10 offers after 1 day of viewings...

I won't comment on the pricing of your property but there just aren't that many buyers with that sort of money so it might take a while longer.

at property crash views. Given me pause for thought. Absolutely NOTHING is selling in Chelsea or Kensington so people are worried obviously. Hmmm

Wow, that's all really interesting. I think the property bubble had to burst some day - it just wasn't sustainable the way it was (broom cupboard on Sloane Street for £3 million or whatever).

We sold my MIL's house in SW19 a year ago to the first buyer, just to secure a sale. Glad we did now. All these things come down to timing and luck, don't they?

OP, could you reduce your flat a little more?

So it's already crashed in the middle? Somebody needs to tell the Estate Agents. The poor things don't even know.

what is happening to the Nine Elms flats as a matter of interest - who is buying them, or are they all still on the market (or have they not yet appeared on the market)?

I think the btl tax changes on interest have yet to feed through fully but will lead to further downward pressure on prices ...on the other hand London is still thriving (at the moment) so rental income may not fall massively (I know it has fallen a bit), so basically I think what i am saying what will happen to house prices is pretty much unforseeable!

I had a nightmare time selling my flat. Not quite prime but central. It took 6 months and three reductions. Loads of viewings but 2 offers fell through. The thing that l found odd was how reluctant the agents were (had three in the end) to reduce the price. I had to go against them. They seemed to be worried about a contagion effect. (Why do they care as long as they get their commission?) Anyway, l got it away and don't really care that it didn't get a top price, just relieved to get shut. Everything else close by is still sitting on the market. Take other prices and agents advice with a pinch of salt. Hope this helps. Best of luck!

17 they were bought in huge numbers by Asian (esp Chinese and Malaysian) investors, sometimes with the aim of "flipping" before completion. Initially this meant that prices were very high in that development. When market confidence decreased, purchases slowed. I've no idea what's happened since, but I expect that there are unsold units or units being currently reduced in price/offered with free SDLT/free furniture etc (I think I saw a free car somewhere?!).

Essential + 17 - agree. The flippers never pay full price, its deposit only and hope to flip before the full amount is due. I imagine there's a lot of that in Nine Elms: - have a look at this... A snip at £700k(?) :)

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60319426.html

Claims to be £107k lower than before. No pics of flat (or mention of monthly maintenance costs!) ... I'm no expert and I hate the UK property market, but there seems a bit of downside potential here

I don't think the OP is coming back.

xenu ahead of the April tax changes there was a similar one near me (I'm in SE London) - can't remember what gave it away but the person had bought off-plan clearly wanting to re-sell before completion, and it just did not shift. I think they eventually reduced quite drastically.

There were similar flipping deals going on pre 2007. People the became unable to either get finance or resell. Housebuilders were generally not inclined to be lenient. I wonder if we will see the same again?

How can you sell before completion?

mary very basically it entails people buying property off-plan before it's built, putting down a deposit (10%ish), then relying on the property increasing in value while the thing is being built, and then selling to another buyer who will actually complete. It's fairly high risk.

Link

It can work if you have nerves of steel because when you exchange on somewhere off-plan you only put down 10% or so, and you bank on the property increasing in value while it is being built.

back to OP, £850k for a 2 bed flat. Wow, that is expensive. I could buy my zone 2, 4 bed - with garden, totally refurbished end of terrace house for that and have change left over. I would want fancy pants for that type of asking price on a flat.

@aliceinwanderland also a lot of 'ordinary' people got caught up in that.

for example this was a common scenario in e.g. Leeds -
Bought new build flat off plan Q1 2007 for £190k, expected completion Q4 2007.
Paid minimal deposit and have an AIP for a 95% mortgage.
Build is delayed, financial crash hits, finally completed in 2009.
New mortgage valuation only values the flat at £150k.
Person can not now pay for the flat at the agreed price.
Developer tells them to go fuck themselves, they are owed the sull 190k.
Person ends up going bankrupt.

Sad, sad times.

It sounds like its probably over priced.