Anyone else in London finding it impossible to sell their flat?

[Lottapianos]

We're in East London, in a location with a lot going for it. I would say this I know, but it's a really nice flat that we have looked after and redecorated. We put our flat on the market last year between July and November, had a grand total of 4 viewings and no offers.

This year, we're back on, and flat has been on the market for about 6 weeks. We have had only one viewing. In this time, we have reduced the price twice, by a total of £50,000. The initial valuation was obviously completely crazy. The new price has been on for just a couple of days but zero interest so far. It's maddening because the area we want to move to (just outside London) has TONS of properties within our budget that we would be dying to view but we cannot seem to shift our place

Anyone else in a similar situation? Any thoughts / ideas / frustrations to share?

OP, I've been on another thread where posters are saying the London market is fine and they could sell in a jiffy if they wanted to. This is not my experience talking to friends, but if other mumsnet posters are saying the London market is fine, anyone having problems selling in London must be imagining it.

Emilie which thread is that?

Friday, the thread is about a house in Wells that is not selling, but some posters seem to disagree about the London market having problems. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/3274794-Help-selling-house?pg=2&messages=25
If I was the OP here I would reduce my price to sell, and use that reduction to negotiate a similar reduction on a place they like outside London. The problems in London will not be confined to London, as some seem to hope. If Londoners have less money to spend, the provinces will develop problems, too. ( as is probably already happening).

could sell in a jiffy if they wanted to
Most houses/flats will sell quickly, if they're cheap enough!

Mildura, true. my mum sold a couple of months ago, because of nasty neighbours. She needed to reduce her asking price by 20% though for a quick sale. The positive is that it will have locked in a reduced value for her neighbour's house too, which is almost the same.

@Emilie69
Are you Henry Pryor?? Some of your posts on this thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/3274794-Help-selling-house?pg=2&messages=25 suggest you might be, or are using his tweets to spread the word!

Mildura, no, but I follow him on twitter to keep abreast of the market. He is a very good source of on the ground info!

it will be price

we recently had a valuation and asked for a realistic price.

since then, two identical flats in this block went on for more and had to reduce to what we were told was a realistic figure - one now under offer.

also, for context, my sister has sold a one bed in London. her former neighbour is trying to sell a 2 bed - literally just her flat with a second bedroom added on, but he was trying to charge £200k more! the valuation he got was from an agent well know for overvaluing.

have you had a really good look at recent sold prices? having a look at market prices is pretty useless.

@Emilie69
He does speak a good deal of sense, although it suits his business to talk the market down to a degree. But I find him well worth listening to, he knows his stuff.

Mildura, True, as a buyer's agents he has an interest in talking down the market, but I think the market will fall to the level it falls to, regardless. Anyone talking the market down is just accelerating the process of reaching that level. I think it is better to get there quickly than have a drawn out decline, although some will probably prefer a long slow decline.

@Emilie69
Yep, can't disagree with any of that. A quick sharp correction would be better for most, but a slow decline is probably more likely. As many sellers don't want to make the fist move and fear 'losing' money that they believe is currently tied up in their house.

Uncertainty surrounding interest rates as well as Brexit, coupled with high cost of moving, particularly stamp duty at the upper end of the market, are making many prospective buyers hold off doing anything, and too few sellers prepared to be bold enough to reduce their price expectations to a level where buyers are prepared to enter the market.

Housing markets can be funny things, very rarely responding to logic and reason, far more frequently controlled by sentiment and emotion.

I think the market is just massively overheated. House prices here have more than doubled in the last 8 years. Wages are stagnant. It's just become unaffordable or too risky to buy. Price reduction imho are the only way to go.

Twenty odd years ago we sold and bought in a falling market.

Bought a conversion that had originally sold for 79K
We paid 56k
Sold five years later for 49k

Renting for a year in our new area and moving twice was an absolute pain in the arse with two small children. But we bought at the bottom of the market and it was very worthwhile financially. Plus we got a chance to really suss out the area.

If you haven't lived through a falling market and negative equity it's easy to be blasé about it. We are up north now and in a big house. We were thinking of downsizing in four years' time but I think we might push that forward a bit if the London market is struggling.

House prices here have more than doubled in the last 8 years.
In the main as a result of very low interest rates, making large mortgages more affordable. But we have now reached a point where even v low interest rates are not enough to keep things going and lower prices are the only thing that will bring a bit of confidence back.

We’re selling and buying in London, moving from young v trendy area to family area. Prices are similar in both. Estate agent told me they had sold 16 properties in the area in which I’m buying last May and 18 this year. He did say it was a buyers market re price but isn’t the room and gloom that was predicted re Brexit et al.

He’s an estate agent though!

That should say “sold 16 properties in the area in which I’m buying last May and 18 this May.