Why are there few houses for sale in Greater London?

[MrsPeterParker]

We have been trying to buy a house for 3 months now in Greater London (north east London- Redbridge, Epping, Waltham Forest). Budget -£500,000 (I know it's not a lot for these areas)

However I see a serious dearth of housing stock in north east London. It's the same houses in the market everyday - most of them there for months (and a few of them on since last year), and reduced but not by a lot. It's very boring to open Rightmove and see the same houses come up everyday. I think the lack of supply of (good)houses is the reason why the average house price went up by a lot last month in these areas despite asking prices coming down pretty much everywhere else.

Do you see the situation (typically) improve in summer or should I look at other areas in Greater London and completely abandon my plans in NE london? I am free to go anywhere in Greater London

Tia

Forgot to mention that I have been putting offers on houses typically 3-4% below asking price but nothing has been accepted so far.

People aren't moving as much for various reasons - general economic/Brexit uncertainty, worried that prices are falling, so waiting until they (they hope) they rise again - makes little sense if upsizing but could be a factor in downsizing.

Moving is expensive and budgets are tight

People extending instead of moving - cheaper way to increase space, esp. in any house almost anywhere in Greater London. So many loft/rear extensions around here.

I suspect that the sort of people who bought, renovated, sold every 2-3 years, and did the same again to make some money - almost a given when prices were shooting up - are no longer risking it now prices are falling.

People who'd like to move but are finding that everything they like is too expensive - vendors won't budge from what they think their house ought to be worth - hence potential vendors not putting their own on the market.

It's not just London - have noticed the same in the part of Oxford where a dd lives - prices have gone crazy there too, so I suspect that the same factors are at work.

Just my thoughts anyway.

Prices aren't going up so little/no/negative equity in homes that have been bought in the last 2/3 years - not enough to pay deposit on a new place.

Huge amounts of Stamp Duty to pay each time you move in London - to move from a 2 bed to a small 3 bed house in a not very expensive area of London will cost us upwards of £20K, which is what we have to pay each and every time we move mainly thanks to Stamp Duty. So no one moves.

Nobody I know can afford to move. We are in a smallish 3bed semi. I would quite like to move to a larger 3 or 4 bed with a bigger garden, but the step up in price isn’t worth it. Everyone I know is extending instead, including us.

The market seems very stagnated over here

I'm in SW London and the market is terrible. It's a London thing - prices are just too high and vendors are unlikely to lower them so everything has ground to a halt. Depressing!! (I'm trying to upsize)

Stamp Duty. It's getting just too expensive to move house in London and the SE.

We're also trying to move on the London/Surrey borders. Nothing seems to be moving. Stamp duty is brutal. The current house was a mistake and doesn't suit our family. We knew that pretty much straight away but have been building up to throwing away thousands on stamp duty for the privilege of moving.

@eurochick, I know how it feels to live in a house you don't like. Hope you get a house you love, soon

Thanks. We just went on the market this week and have had a (low) offer already, but if we can't find anything we want to move to it's all for nothing.

Good luck to you too.

Everyone I know is extending/ converting lofts as well. I’m wondering what is going to have in 10 years or so as there is going to be a real dearth of 3 bed houses and people are not going to be able to make the jump between a 2/3 bed flat and a 4/5 bed house without anything in between.

There's an awful lot of houses bought to rent out on the outskirts of London, Section 24 means that for good amount of landlords they're now being taxed on the rental income as if was earned. This effect will be staggered over the next 4 years, but as the first lot of tax demands are due next Spring I'd be pretty sure as that approaches the number of properties available for sale will definitely increase.

We converted our loft a couple of years ago as we could not afford to move. I seem to see scaffolding up all the time round here now. I get the tube at the end of the northern line and where I park you see the backs of houses - I reckon of a string of 20 I can see 15 at least have loft conversions.

To the op - There will be 3 beds though - all the 2 beds with loft conversions!

Pp not op!