What is stopping people selling? What can brexit outcome really change?

[ohblahdee]

Sellers, do you mind me asking, why are people holding off on selling? We need a home and there are just dribbles out there. According to the agents there are loads of us on their lists looking to buy. I went to an open house today along with 11 others. Surely it’s better to sell now than to wait for interest rates to rise and prices to drop?
I’m so fed up of seeing the same bunch of over priced/glaring fault houses out there. It feels so hopeless and that we will be forced into something that really doesn’t suit our needs.

Yep, opposite problem here. My aunt's house has been on the market for about 18 months and is just not selling. She's desperate to sell.

A lot of people move house to get a bigger house (which requires a bigger mortgage and other bills). They may be reluctant to do this if they are concerned about the impact of Brexit on their jobs therefore may not want to increase their monthly financial commitments.

Lots of houses for sale here on the outskirts of London and nothing selling.

Houses in our road are not shifting st all despite being 5 mins away from mainline station into the City.

Lots of houses for sale round me but nothing selling - not sure if they are overpriced or what! Mine is going on the market in July - bit later than planned but at least it will be freshly painted and deep cleaned

If it wasn't for brexit we would have probably moved to a bigger house this year, as expecting DC2. As it is we are been more cautious and split one bedroom in two so we can stay put.

This means that our current house (which would have been popular with first time buyers) hasn't been put on the market. I imagine a lot of people are making similar choices to avoid been overstretched if mortgage rates rise, or trapped in negative equity if prices fall.

Buyers market here (outer London) but I think FTBs are hoping / waiting for prices to fall (further) so everything is stuck. We’ve dropped by 40k already...

Uncertainty. It causes economic issues full stop, and is far more damaging to the economy than most other outcomes (other than, according to recent research, a Corbyn government )

I think until the what-if-any-Brexit is resolved, we won't see much improvement - and for people at the lower end of the so-called mansion tax spectrum, there's been a fairly flat market for a number of years, which Brexit-or-not has only exacerbated.

Houses are selling like hot cakes in my town, really confusing! It's considered a desirable location and houses are usually snapped up, but they are selling faster now if anything. Weird!!

Friends of mine want to sell, but they're holding off because they don't want to buy a bigger house and then find that prices fall and interest rates go up, leaving them in negative equity and paying a huge mortgage.

Tbh, I don't blame them.

Market here is flooded with new builds. A few months ago older houses were selling like hot cakes (more space, less money than the over priced new builds) but now it has all ground to a halt.

Huge amounts of new builds here too. In my son’s school village (very affluent) lots of houses are coming onto the market and selling immediately. So it definitely depends on the area

I will be a ftb when i choose to buy.. I’m not at the moment because people are deluded about house values.

Beard of Zeus - totally! The open house today 60% of the garden had been walled off, like straight across, and they (or somebody else owned it though god knows why as completely no access to anyone other than the home owner) - wanted to sell it in a separate sale for £35k. Average size garden. Not london. Literally holding the garden to ransom. The greed of some people!!

The house builders always stop building when the economy flatlines. This might resolve the issue for houses not selling but eventually will push up prices when the supply runs short.

We are holding off to renovate it as anything not completely renovated just isn't selling. Even fully renovated lots on for a year. Will go on in a month or two, not too far off now.

Think some people are doing DIY on their house / extending rather than selling as nervous about taking on too high a mortgage / know selling is a nightmare at the moment. I think some people also expected Brexit to be called off though anything could happen on that.

In my area (Home Counties - quick commute into the city) EA told me last week that the £1m+ market is dead.
Stuff in the middle is moving and market is flooded with over priced nearly new build flats from BTL LL desperate to offload due to tax changes now fully on stream.

He said that flats were on at £450 and only worth £380. He said that surveyors were down valuing on behalf of mortgage companies which was a big issue - and that was before May’s resignation.

He said that there were plenty of FTB keen to get in with their lives - but they are ignoring the flats (with £6k service charge!) skipping that step and trying to get houses.

I'm in Bristol and house sales are booming as usual, no changes here. We just sold in Feb and are due to complete next week. We live off a real big main ish road and currently there are about 6 houses for sale on the road and 4 sold.

Great area but it seems everyone wanting to move as house prices have gone up in the area

Our EA advised us to fully renovate or sell as complete restoration project. He does sometimes just happen to be outside our house though so suspect he is keen for us to go on.

OP, sound like you're looking in an area that's on the up.

We're waiting because there's a risk DH could lose his job if no deal brexit happens.

Don't want to risk a higher mortgage.

Incidentally, there isn't much on the market we'd be tempted by at the moment. Everything either has an obvious problem (no parking etc) or has been sat there for years and is clearly overpriced.