For those who were about to put their houses on the market...

[hairycabbage]

We are planning a move many miles away due to work and were about to put our house on the market when Coronavirus restrictions came into place. We haven't yet looked at any houses where we want to move to and obviously nothing has been coming on the market for several weeks.

What are our thoughts/ predictions on the long and short term effects of this on the housing market? Will there be a flurry of houses for sale when the restrictions are lifted? Or will everyone be sitting tight until we know what the long term implications might be/ there are no more lockdowns planned?

The new job is on hold but will still be there as and when we can get there (within reason) but we do need to move as soon as we possibly can and when it's safe to do so, even if that means moving into temporary/ rented until the housing market recovers a little.

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and there must be many people in the same position so I'm curious about what their plans are (if any- are you now staying where you are?!)

We went on the market at the end of Feb and a couple of weeks before lockdown had some people quite interested. Looking around my house now there are 5 of us here all day every day it's hard to imagine how organised and tidy it was a few short weeks ago!

Anyway we've decided to stay on the market on the basis that people might be bored at home and looking at Rightmove.

There are many doom and gloom merchants talking about how everything will be awful forever but the market was really bouyant before this hit, interest rates are very low and there will be some people ready to go as soon as things get moving again.

If there is a period where restrictions are on for a bit and then off for a bit I don't see why people won't be doing viewings. If you HAVE to move anyway I would be spending this time getting the house ready so you are in a good position to go when you can.

Good luck

Hello, I was lucky enough to sell my house at auction last week and exchanged on 30 March. The buyer asked for eight weeks for completion, whether that happens or not is yet to be seen.

I've been reading this forum which you might find interesting.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/house-buying-renting-selling

Thanks. I'll have a look at that link!
We've been using this rime to repaint some rooms and de clutter so hopefully the house will be ready to sell as soon as we are.

We were shortly due to go on market. EA advised not to put it on and said expecting a big drop in values if goes on 6 months. Said if it's shortlived (very unlikely imo) less of an impact. Not sure what we will do after DH will want it on the market, I'ld prefer to rent it out. I suspect we will end up putting it on and then it won't sell. Normally the market will rebound quite fast after a large drop but I think better to wait it out a couple of years. Will need to see what happens though - clearly a huge economic impact - France has estimated GDP falls 1.5% for every 2 weeks in lockdown - but it will depend how quickly or not jobs / incomes return to more normal levels. We had it valued before so have good idea of current value. I would be tempted by auction. We currently have to clear and clean ours and can't get to it due to lockdown.

KoalasandRabbit I only went to auction because my house needs £200K of renovation work, and it's listed. I have had to pay their 2% fee, as well as the EA 1% fee, as the buyer was originally introduced by them. I'd avoid this route if you can.

I read in the guardian in the last week that they expect house prices to drop (but by about 3-5%) this year and the housing market will stall but figures should recover next year. No idea how accurate that is.

I do expect the value to decrease but we can't really wait for them to rise again before selling. Presumably anywhere we want to buy will have a similar price drop too so it should balance out. Neither of our salaries are currently affected so we should be able to afford the same type/ value of house. I do find it all very confusing...
I thought there might have been an increase in people selling privately compared purplebricks etc and doing virtual tours but maybe we haven't got there yet, not that it's something I'd like to do anyway!

We have delayed our move for nearly another year.
We were hoping to have our flat on the market by the end of March but that was not possible. In my area, all the estate agent offices have shut down. But we have decided to advertise the flat anyway as we want to move sometime in the next eighteen months.
So as of this week the flat is officially on the market. Right now we are repainting, decluttering and putting items in boxes. Or binning or shredding. I want to sell the flat by next April hopefully. Only God will be able to tell me what happens however.

We've been on since January, came off in lockdown. Hoping to part exchange so long as the new builds being built in our village still go ahead this summer as planned. Some houses do seem to be going on still, the market has been quiet where I am the last year. I'm really nervous about what this all means, especially on top of Brexit (although that doesn't seem so scary any more )

Unless it's a move from north - south or vice versa then there isn't too much issue. House prices in one region broadly will all follow so if yours goes down, so do others. Local variations obviously.
No-one knows with any accuracy what will happen so if you want to move then take some time to get the house in order and then get it on the market. There isn't any rush as the housing market will be slow for the next few months due to nerves.

If your buying and selling houses of roughly similar values then both should just, can be regional lags, think last downturn London was first to go. We are just selling. The main issue will be getting finance for people as banks are restricting lending to protect themselves from needing bailouts if house prices fall.

Also last time lots of transactions were falling through especially those with chains - we bought a house just after the last downturn and got a big discount for cash and another one was cash buyers only as they'd had 2 failed mortgage reliant deals.

Due to the distance involved I think it's likely that we will have to sell then rent then buy again so hopefully there won't be too long a chain. Our current house is in the catchment of a very popular primary school (that all my dc attend/ed)so I'm hoping it will sell fairly quickly- even if that's not for as much as it was valued at previously! At least we've had plenty of time to spruce things up and sort the garden out, which hopefully will make it more appealing to those who are braving a move.

I’m desperately hoping prices don’t drop we have a sale agreed on our house and had put an offer in the day before the lockdown which wasn’t accepted.
We really needed to sell to improve our financial situation before corona so really hoping we can move quickly following or we might have to consider breaking the chain and moving into rented so we don’t lose our buyer

@AndWhat I think it’s highly likely they will drop, mass unemployment and restriction of credit will cause a significant drop unfortunately.

Ours went on the market on the day of lockdown.

We are just waiting to see what happens. We hope people are using lockdown to browse right move and make plans etc.

No one knows what will happen, so we need to see what the reality is later.

@AndWhat we are buyers who had an offer accepted shortly before the lockdown. Obviously now everything is paused and to be honest we feel like it would be stupid of us to continue with the sale even if lockdown stops in May/June.

1. houses prices likely to fall between now and the end of the year
2. it won’t be the end of the virus situation, ie other lockdowns to be expected, and nobody wants to move in these circumstances.
3. economical impact uncertain, taxes, inflation etc.
4. our jobs are safe for now but who knows if it will be the case in 6m