What’s the housing market doing near you?

[MistyIsland]

Been keeping my eyes open for a while around here, we are quite rural. Only 2 houses have come up for sale in about 5 years. But have been keeping an eye open at the next neighbouring towns/cities (I just like a nosy when new houses come up)

Seems to be lots of houses coming on to the market for inflated prices?? Like a typical 3 bed with a garden is around 15/20k more than before lockdown. I’m just wondering if we will actually have the predicted crash.

Old area we moved from (Wiltshire) houses have been selling within days of going on the market.

Just wondering if all areas are similar 🤷‍♀️

People will not sell for less than they need to, if they can all hold on and keep prices high then they will, when the mortgage holidays and Furloughed scheme ends then those that have over leveraged will have no choice but to sell and then there will be a free fall and the market will decide the prices, likely a crash.

tbf I would sell for less if what i moved up had the same % saving as bigger cash saving & less stamp duty.

Like hot cakes.
Three near us have got sold on them in last couple of weeks.
Neighbours have sold theirs.
Partners dsis has sold for over asking price a few streets away.

I am FTB and have been looking at some popular SE postcodes in zone 2-3 since Nov 2019 (2bed flat). I remember that last fall nice flats were selling quickly, but everything else would stay on a market for a long time and very often have reductions. Then Jan came and everything was just flying, the same flats that nobody wanted in Nov-Dec disappeared one by one. What I see now is pretty similar to last fall: the most attractive flats seem to be selling fast, but I also see A LOT of reductions. I specifically noted few flats that I wasn't even able to view in the beginning of the year (were sold within couple of days). They returned on a market, and then after a while the price was reduced.. minus around 3-5%. Important note - they all do not have a garden.
I think properties without a garden will be hit first. I don't believe anyone will offer pre-covid prices for them now, I definitely won't.

Sold prices have a time lag. Properties completing now will have been agreed pre-Covid.

To be honest, it's a bit too soon to tell. Prices houses are advertised at don't tell you what % lower the sellers are accepting as offers, nor how many see the buyer lower their offer during the buying process, or how many fall-through due to buyers feeling jittery. We are still in furlough time so people haven't the lost their jobs yet.....so actually the real period of decline hasn't come yet.

Plus, never listen to what estate agents say about the state of the market. They have a vested interest in suggesting things are going well to encourage people to sell, so they can make their commission.

Ask the Q in 6 months and 9 months and a year.

As a buyer, I wouldn't expect to pay precious prices in most areas....certainly not in 6 months time, so I might wait a while to buy unless i was down sizing.

I've still got the Rightmove alerts on for our search area/price range after moving last year (4 beds, detached, rural West Mids). There was nothing coming on the market for about six months, and suddenly 18 houses have been listed in the last week.

Admittedly 2 of them are houses I now think of fondly as old friends, onto their fifth agent with £5k off, but even so.

Apparently Cornwalls housing market is absolutely buzzing in most towns.

There’s a huge demand for gardens. I think 2 & 3 beds are most popular - Lots of people wanting to escape apartments & downsize to a more sensible mortgage.

I’m hoping to sell soon but can’t for a few months so hoping it stays buoyant

It's too soon to see the impact. But to imagine there won't be drops in price in a few months, bearing in mind the major economic downturn that is coming with all that entails, is like a business ignoring Christmas is coming and failing to adjust their prices and stock in relation to it, or refusing to acknowledge that in January, you have to lower the price of Christmas stock in order to get rid of it.

However,not continue the analogy of the Christmas market, prices in most regions of thebhosuignmamrket haven't dropped yet. That's because we aren't in the equivalent of the January sales yet...the economy hasn't tanked yet....but it will. So don't just look at stock levels and prices now but think about the situation in 6-9 months and if you will have wanted to buy/sell at today's prices.

Houses appear to be listed at pre lockdown levels in the main, some seem to be sold quickly (marked sold STC), others languishing for some time. It's too early to tell whether the sales will all proceed though and we have no idea of the prices as yet so I'm surprised to see posters commenting as if they already have this information.

I think this is an uptick in demand because of pent up demand during lockdown. It's highly likely that prices will start to dip at the end of the year once furlough and mortgage holiday scheme ends and more people are made redundant. There is also a high chance of more outbreaks of Covid during Autumn and Winter which will make people cautious.

Last night I noticed that some had been removed from Rightmove & resubmitted with higher prices!! E.g Approx £5k more for a 3 bedroom.

We can’t sell yet but we’re very realistic about what to expect in November / December time

Nationwide one if the biggest mortgage lenders has just announced today that first time buyers will need a 15% at least and other mortgage lenders are expected to announce same by end of week, that should have quite a bit of an impact on lending and house prices will likely come down as a result as people will not be able to get the mortgages to afford them.

www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/17/nationwide-triples-minimum-deposit-for-uk-first-time-buyers

@dobbleby exactly! I remember a time when there were questions about good commuter towns around London posted every day, and there was always one particular place being talked up. Made me think that someone was creating fake threads to prop prices in their neighbourhood... Anyway, only sold prices in 6-12 months will give us an answer. If estate agents get genuine insight into anything, they wouldn't be doing that for a living

*had genuine insight

Ha! I always think of the Sutton poster who must own all the land there. Every thread she would extoll the virtues of Sutton & put down other areas but get offended if people didn't like Sutton. Plus it wasn't particularly relevant was the OPs were asking about North London or Hampshire 🤣

Busy. Whether this is pent up demand or people wanting to move out of the city who knows. But I'm looking to move to london soon so keeping an eye out and property there seems to be doing well too.

@dobbleby that's the poster I was talking about! It got very transparent and she does indeed own property there. I must be frustrating when you see the house prices in, say, Wimbledon increasing gazillion % over 10 years and your neck of the woods has only seem growth of 400% over the same period

Ah. So many typos. But you get the gist.

We sold 3 years ago in the South East and prices in the estate we used to live in have not changed since - similar houses still have similar asking prices to what we sold for. The weirdest one though was a house on our old street, went up for sale about a month before us and is still for sale. The prices have been all over the place, started at about 500k, dropped all the way to 425 at one point and is now at 450 - I keep looking because I wonder if it will ever sell...

@Moomin12345 OMG it was insane wasn't it! I was moving at the time so was quite into the threads.

Made sense they were in property cause it was like a script they reeled off.

Yes you're right about the bitterness. I took umbrage with her for shitting on other areas & pointed out there was a reason her area with its good housing stock & good schools was cheap for London & she was not happy.

My area of London seemed to peak 6 yrs ago & prices haven't really changed. Considering stamp duty it might even be a loss.

Halifax houses round about the same price here as they were before the lockdown but im glad we bought last year as we wanted semi detached with a garage and there aren't many with our requirements at the price we paid would have had to pay around 20K more this year, houses in 110-130K bracket

should have said terraced houses same sort of price semis more

@dobbleby My area of London seemed to peak 6 yrs ago & prices haven't really changed. Considering stamp duty it might even be a loss.

which area is this if you don't mind me asking?

I'm in the West Midlands. Put my house on the market today. Within 3 hours of being on Rightmove I have 6 viewings booked in already. The market certainly isn't quiet where I'm selling. I'm buying in Shropshire and want to view a house that went up last week but there's already 15 viewings booked in!