This weird property market...

[BlowingAHoolie]

We have finally put our place on the market to look for something bigger for our growing family.

It's only week 3, there haven been 3 viewings and the estate agent is already saying to me that it's a "weird market" right now.

We live in an area of London where things usually sell like hot cakes.

Have started to look at places to buy as I would like to have found something if we get an offer... it's just making me feel a bit uneasy.

Anyone have anything constructive to say that would make me feel better? Or just some good advice

Lower your price.

Already?

I think the London market is sluggish and according to the news, prices might be coming down a bit. Much less buy to let activity as well I imagine, so depends on what area and what type of property you are trying to sell.

Properties aren’t selling as fast as previously. Stamp Duty Land Tax changes has skewed costs for buyers including those who might have bought investment properties, plus Brexit is making some good off which means overall less movement. Where are you selling? In very central London the effect seems to be less as the very rich are less impacted by these things (currently selling a client’s £5m property fairly easily!)

Admitted not London but...

We’re selling our house at the moment in an area of the country where the market is booming. They can’t get enough family homes. We put ours on the market and had 19 viewings in a week but only one second viewing and one low offer. So on day 7 we decided we would lower the price. Luckily an offer came in that day so we didn’t actually go through with lowering the price but I’d say if there’s little interest, it’s never too early to lower the price (to a realistic level where you’re still happy though!)

If you’re not getting much interest normally it’s the price. Agents often over value to get the business , then bullshit for a period, before asking you to drop it. Can you post a link?

I think a lot of people are waiting to see at the moment.

I've noticed our local area is very very slow. However keenly priced stuff is still going.

We are in the same situation of living in London and wanting to upsize. We are waiting until the spring to sell (just had my own thread about this). If prices do drop it benefits us more to wait until after this has happened.

I am scared about going on the market though, as perfectly lovely properties do seem to be hanging around.

Also, I had been looking into the agent "nested". They are London only at the moment. They guarantee you a sale price so essentially you become chain free. I've only had a phone conversation at the moment with them, but the price range they were talking about seemed realistic to me (i.e. not at the top of the range, but not ridiculously low either).

at the very least it might be worth seeing how your valuation compares to their online/phone valuation. If your valuation is way higher then possibly that shows you have been over valued?

Yes prices are definitely falling or at the very least stagnant in London. Our NDN (zone 4) has their house on the market and dropped the price by 100k recently and still no offers. It depends on the price bracket but definitely mid sized to large properties are not moving round here.

We just moved and about half the properties had 'reduced on date' on rightmove. It's definitely stalling - this was about a month ago in SE London.

We're on in London too in an area that normally moves quickly. We've had a lot of viewings but no offers and no second viewings. I do think it's the price but DH won't lower.

I also think as our house is really for FTB they are more jittery than usual. We are leaving the UK so a crash doesn't benefit us in terms of up-sizing but we're not desperate to leave London just yet and might consider up-sizing here if we got it cheap enough

I did put my foot down and we've reduced already as the original price was quite frankly fucking ridiculous.

Thanks for all the replies!
We have a big 2 bed garden flat between zone 2 & 3. It's somewhere that property is always in demand. Looking for a bit house further out.

The estate agents we chose are well respected in the area and did show me other properties they had sold when explaining the basis on which they made their valuation. 2 other places made similar valuations.

I'm wondering about sitting on it until Xmas then maybe lowering it in the new year if we've not had any offers.

All of the estate agents I'm chatting to whilst looking for a new place are saying it's a slow market.

In London too (SE Zone 4) - priced ours to sell and have had lots of viewings and 2 offers (one at 30k below and one at the OIEO mark). I'm jittery as I feel like, if we were to accept the second, we'd be selling too cheaply as I'm not seeing the dip reflected higher up the chain and there's not much coming on in the area I want to buy. Agree, weird market.

Prices are definitely coming down all over London. I’m no sure there is much sense waiting if you want to move. You’ll sell for less but you’ll buy your next place for less than it would have cost a year ago too.

I kind of agree JoJo, however I think a lot of sellers are stuck in the mentality of thinking their house is worth what it was last year and are not dropping. Doesn’t help much if you are upsizing and drop your price to sell, but then the more expensive properties won’t budge.

I think that there is somewhat of a stand off in the market in London right now, I think I read that about a third of properties on the market are reduced, but many sellers won't reduce. Buyers won't or in the case of most first time buyers can't pay the asking. So it is a limbo. I think they will come down, partly because we have finally reached a point of no more give for first time buyers...the stagnant wages and rising house prices thing can only go so far. Personally near me over the last couple of years I know two people personally who have put their houses on the market for a few months then decided not to sell due to lack of interest. I think they had very very few viewings though, three doesn't sound bad for right now so I would not reduce just yet. Equally though I would not get too attached to a the idea of a specific new place.

It's a difficult time - Brexit, stamp duty changes for second-home owners, fewer overseas buyers and the London market had got very toppy. I live in a desirable area of London and I see a lot of properties being reduced, especially flats. I'd give it another couple of weeks, then remove it from the market and give it another go in the new year - we may have had an interest rate rise by then and people may have got over the shock of it, iyswim, rather than seeing it as this terrible blight on the horizon.

Well I am certainly seeing the bigger stuff being reduced to so will probably hold out a little while longer.
But yes I think you may be right about people getting over it after Xmas. Bloody Brexit 😤😤😤

London property market seems to be very sluggish. We had deceased fil's house on the market for well over 18 months and virtually zero viewings. Worst house on the best road scenario, near to prestigious grammer school etc. It only sold because sil bought it in the end and her house in SE London was snapped up by the council who have purchased a lot of properties in the area. we were really beginning to worry it would never sell. The price had been reduced twice by about 30k over the 18 month period.

I'm in West London and it's definitely not going up here. A friend recently sold at £100k off asking price though she did think estate agent had overvalued it a bit

I'd just point out that it won't take a few months for the market to turn again. Property cycles are much longer than that. Coupled with interest rate rises and Brexit, I'd imagine it'll get pretty stagnant with price corrections for a few years.

Some areas of London do seem to be doing better than others. Are you in an area that looks to be suffering a decline overall? Unfortunately you won’t be able to put an offer in until you’ve got one on yours.

Have you felt like the estate agents are doing what they say they will? I.e. do you think they’re getting the right people round for viewings?

Do you have kids? If so tidying away all their toys can make a big difference.

If you’ve only had three viewings it does seem to be price unfortunately.

Like someone else had said you could post it on here for a mumsnet critique! Seems to be the done thing recently!

I think prices are teetering on the edge at the moment. big crash coming I'd say. How could those massive rises be sustained when wages are not going up, interests rates about to rise and all this uncertainty about Brexit.

Agree that prices are coming down in London. I’d advise anyone not to maximise their budget if buying right now, as negative equity is a real possibility.

With each passing year of house prices soaring while wages do not, people get further and further away from being able to buy or make up the difference. Now I really think we have got to the point in London where even if you have a good income, a good size deposit saved, and parental help, you still cannot necessarily buy even a small unsuitable property in a bad area. People just cannot enter the market. Many have given up hope. Add that to the sobering influence of Brexit and the days of London properties going on the market and sparking a bidding war by midnight are a distant memory.