Properties relisted at pre-COVID prices - are sellers in cuckoo land?

[househunter2020]

Started property search in February (London) and saw various properties quickly sold, obviously riding on post election bounce. We did not put in offer for any. Now we are seeing from this week properties that were sold get relisted at previous asking price (Jan/ Feb time). Are sellers in cuckoo land?

Just spoke to one agent about one relisting and asked if seller is reducing the price and was told oh that one was priced very well already and sold straight away last time it was listed, only now the buyer pulled out due to work problems... Of course it was February or a century ago...

I would expect about 5% reduction from previous listing. What do you think?

It depends on how much the property is up for.

If it was overpriced to start with then is it really accepting a lower offer or just someone offering the “correct price” that it should have been in the first place.

I am willing to keep the price we agreed which I think was on the lower side of the right price to begin with but if they come back and knock 5 or 10% off just because of Corona then we won’t have a sale.

Buyers can offer lower. It doesn’t mean that the seller has to accept.

A house near me has increased in price by 40k even though it’s been on the market for 6 months in an area where the average time on the market is 3 weeks. If no one was buying it before they are definitely not buying it now!

Whilst we have been in lockdown we have converted an outbuilding into a 1 bed annexe.

We almost know that the people are going to want to offer lower just because that is what everyone is saying they should do.
They are getting a bit of a bargain because we hadn’t actually put the house up with an estate agent and they were getting a bit of a discount because there was no estate agents fees
We are prepared to still go ahead with the pre lockdown price which is looking like a bargain now but if they mess us about I think we have decided to add around the £40k to the price and go with an estate agent.

Houses with a garden are most popular than ever. They probably do not loose much value in London.

UK house prices fall at fastest rate since 2009 amid coronavirus crisis

www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/02/uk-house-prices-fall-coronavirus-nationwide?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

That headline is a little misleading, the ONS have said that there isn't enough data to be accurate due to the low number of transactions that took place (because they couldn't easily during lockdown). They also say it is likely to be short term, so in some ways it's probably a good time to buy. It really depends what position you're in.

Lots of people are keen to move to houses with bigger gardens and more bedroom space for home offices. I wouldn’t drop my price - my house is desirable in terms of space. Plus we’re still employed so we don’t have to sell - we can sit tight if necessary and wait for the price we want. We are happy to wait 5 years rather than sell at a loss. I don’t think sellers will be accepting low offers unless they’ve lost their jobs and need to sell.

The majority of posts discussing the so called "downturn on the property market" are being spammed via housepricecrash.com.

If you haven't noticed before that people discuss and predict downturns in the property market all the time, and most especially when something as huge and destabilising for the economy as this has happened, you don't notice much. When we face recession and uncertainty and widespread unemployment and so on, people talk about house prices falling.

Although, thank you, now I have started reading that site and enjoying it :)

Houses with a garden are most popular than ever. They probably do not loose much value in London

House in London with big garden so should be ok.

I don’t think the Guardian article was predicting anything.
It was stating that because of lockdown things came to a standstill and won’t really get going

Housepricecrash I looked at and the thread I was reading was discussing how a house from HUTH had remained empty since March (basically the lockdown) and that it not having sold indicated that prices were falling.
The fact that it was impossible to sell would have interfered with their rhetoric

A house is worth what the buyers are willing to pay and a weller is willing to part with. Unless a seller is desperate or a lower buyer more attractive (cash buyer or no chain etc).

A seller lists their price and they may refuse to lower it and stay or they may lower it if the house they buy is lowered.

Parents brought during the last recession, not lowered price as the area was still prime location as was the house.

Iwalkinmyclothing

It is a brilliant site if you want a laugh and guidance about the property market.

Whatever they recommend. Do the opposite.

On one recent thread someone put that their restaurant owning friend was probably going to lose his restaurant and with the crash coming 50% was going to be wiped off his house as well. With a lot of 😂😂😂.

My initial thought was this person has a skewed idea of friendship.

Whatever they recommend. Do the opposite.

House prices have risen so sharply in my area and the surroundings, and BTL landlords have ensured rent is far more than mortgage repayments would be, so I'm not in a position to follow their advice or anyone else's because buying a house is unaffordable to me. Our housing market is fucked. I don't sit around wishing for the sort of crash some people on that site appear to be hoping for because a 30%+ fall in house prices doesn't happen on its own, but so many people are effectively locked out of owning a house that the existence of sites like that and opinions like that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Average houses should be affordable on average incomes.

Properties are still selling well so I wouldn’t bank on a price reduction any time soon. We’re looking at buying in the next six months and won’t be expecting any reduction for the area we are looking to buy in.

I think it's really hard to say with any certainty what will happen. Surely a lot will depend on how the economy copes with the coronavirus and Brexit issues?

I do think a lot of people keen to see a major price drop have forgotten that this is likely to mean lenders require much bigger deposits and are really tight on how much they will lend though, because a major price drop never happens in isolation. There are no easy answers. People who currently own want to protect their 'investment', people who don't want the security of owning a home, whatever happens one group will suffer. I don't have any particular sympathy for people who think they are entitled to make a profit from owning a house, but I do of course feel for people who are frightened of negative equity.

The whole thing is a stupid mess.

@oliversmumarmy have you already offered on something else?

Houses with a garden are most popular than ever. They probably do not loose much value in London

I think it depends, not all areas of London are equal & generally the further out you get zone wise the cheaper the prices vs the size of houses/gardens.

I did read there has been lots of interest in the South coast as people potentially look to wfh more often.

I don't sit around wishing for the sort of crash some people on that site appear to be hoping for
You’d be sitting around for a long time! The site has been going for about 17 years and prices have never fallen despite people’s hopes.

so many people are effectively locked out of owning a house that the existence of sites like that and opinions like that shouldn't come as a surprise
People are desperate to buy houses so they’re hoping it will become possible. I myself used to follow that site when I was in my early 20s and wishing I could buy. It’s not based on any kind of realism, just commiserating with each other and trying to convince themselves that the situation will change.

Individuals talking about house prices falling is not "hoping" for a fall, it just reflects the current news articles everywhere. News articles reflect the current conversations being had all over the country.

Estate agents, lenders and Band of England are predicting falls. A bunch of opinions on websites doesn't affect events - economic decisions and impacts will happen and then more news articles report those.

The article below I linked yesterday, but it also includes a list of other current predictions pasted below:

Bank of England: Fall of 16%
Nationwide: Fall of 13.8%
Cebr: Fall of 13%
Savills: 5 to 10% fall on thin sales
Liberum: Fall of 7% in real prices
Lloyds Banking Group: 5 to 10% fall
EY's Howard Archer: Fall of 5%
Knight Frank: Fall of 7%

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-8372271/Homes-face-14-price-slump-says-Nationwide.html

My dad has been predicting a fall of 20-30% for over a decade now, if it happens he will be insufferable in his "told you so"-ness; I'm not sure if probably being able to buy a house would be worth that .

I have no idea what will happen and no skin in the game really, but I do find it all very interesting.

Houses are still selling quickly for pre lockdown prices in the areas of Manchester we are looking in. So many seemed to be sold when viewings weren’t allowed.

frazzledfatty

No. But the houses I would be interested in have all gone either very quickly or for more than the asking price.
When we started looking we saw a particular house that would have been good. Not a great house. Needed a little work and in an ok area. Too small for us but we thought was a very fair price.
We got a call from the EA a couple of weeks later (beginning of March) saying that bidding had reached £40,000 above asking price and did we want to bid.
We declined and it was sold.

I have looked at auctions that have gone on during lockdown and when things are going for double the guide price and more than the top price in the road I actually think prices are rising
It is very confusing as all the news is house prices are falling yet in reality the places I have looked at, all seem to be rising.

so many people are effectively locked out of owning a house that the existence of sites like that and opinions like that shouldn't come as a surprise

I don’t think that is necessarily true for a lot of people.

Recent thread about how hard it was and how priced out of home ownership the op was.
Really expensive city

Then it turns out they could afford a place 1 stop on a train or a bus ride away but they didn’t want to live there.

Then it turns out they could afford a place 1 stop on a train or a bus ride away but they didn’t want to live there.

Oh god, is this the property version of the old "jobs are out there if you really want them, get on your bike and look for work" trope?

@Iwalkinmyclothing Or 'You'd soon have enough if you stopped buying coffee.' Which is annoying for those really trying as saving say £3 ish a day might be great, but it would still take a really long time to save up for a decent deposit from it. A small 2bed here is about 200k so you'd need at least 20k if not more.
I own a house (well I have a mortgage on it), but I haven't forgotten how hard it was to save up and can see that it's even harder now than previously.