Wtf is happening to the property market?

[viatheapp]

First time buyer with a decent deposit. Trying to buy a small house in Manchester...every house I've seen has actually sold for about 15k more than it was marketed at!

Obviously I've never bought a house but I assumed they went on the market at a certain price and people usually offered lower? I understand supply and demand etc but why aren't agents putting them on at what they expect to get? It's getting really frustrating 😢

No point me looking at lower price point as I won't get anything in a half decent area for that. Might have to give up!

Personally I’d wait anyway, the likelihood of a crash is high after the aftermath of COVID, people are selling // buying at the moment due to the “no stamp duty” until June 30th.

I think there's a lot of pent up demand. With vaccines being available people are seeing a way out and those who postponed house moves now want to make the most of it. Houses in our area sell within days with most going into final offers.

In the late 80s the prices shot up in the months before the tax regulations changed. After that - bang! Down they went by 1/4-1/3. People all over were just stuck when the music stopped.

The Manchester market is absolutely mental and has been for a couple of years. There’s not a great supply in “naice” areas like chorlton/didsbury so that gets very competitive.
Then in moston/Gorton etc it’s possible to get very good rental yields so prices have shot up there.
I bought in Manchester in 2018 and everything I went to see went to sealed bids.

I was looking on RightMove earlier at what's for sale in the local towns and villages upto £350k and in some of the villages where there's usually ten houses there was only two or three

I've been watching the local market for six months now and it's really slowed down. There's very little coming on which I guess means if you're selling you can ask for more

With furlough being extended again and stamp duty not being extended enough to be of use to people thinking of selling this month plus mortgages impossible to get if you're on furlough I can see why the market has slowed right down

We're looking to move in 12+ months and I'm doubtful if the market will be back to where it was before covid

I'm in NZ and the same thing is happening here OP. People are buying property like there is no tomorrow and prices just keep rising, but people are still paying over the odds.

Be careful with Manchester
The property market is unstable and is thought to be due as crash
In your shoes I'd press on but whatever you buy dont compromise too much.
Go for good layout and room size, decent location etc.

Same in my Lancashire city. Properties are going to sold sstc literally days after being put up. How do people go to view and decide to make an offer so quickly?!

Our area in the NW is slowing down massively people were putting property on for silly money and getting it seeing lots of reductions and more reasonable prices now. Looks like no one really cares that.its been extended until June

Manchester markets are a bit insane. It depends which bit of Manchester you are looking at though, some parts are levelling out more than others at the moment.

I’m in the same boat but in Scotland. The market is literally crazy. Hardly any properties coming on for sale and the ones that do, are snapped up within days. I went to view one just before Christmas, it was lovely, loft had been made into a room and there was a fully built bar with hot tub room in the back garden. Kitchen was a bit small but I would have been willing to compromise. Found out yesterday it went for 31k over the asking price and 21k over the home report price. This is an ex council house that you would never make that money back on, everything that could be done to the property, has been done, apart from maybe extending the kitchen but I don’t even know if that was a possibility.

I want to move before March but it looks like it’s gonna be a few more months before I even get a chance, I’m getting a bit desperate in all honesty.

*wanted to move

I'm looking to buy in the next couple of years and it's insane.
I've been looking in the North of England and seriously considering a move.

@missbunnyrabbit

Same in my Lancashire city. Properties are going to sold sstc literally days after being put up. How do people go to view and decide to make an offer so quickly?!

Once you've seen so many and missed out you get to know what you like and what is good value. Have to research all the areas you are looking in before the house comes up. It is bad though, I feel like they should say it has to be up for 2 weeks and can go to sealed bids if more than one person interested.

I live in Cornwall and they said there has never been so many properties sold so quickly. I think the stamp duty, wfh and new outlook on life has maybe made people act rash.

Lots of people are re-evaluating what they need and buying/selling, and also trying to hit stamp duty. It should settle down in a couple of months. It won't crash though, people have been predicting a crash for the last 5 or so years and it hasn't happened yet, and the government won't let that happen as they need a functioning economy to get us out of this Covid mess.

It's a complete nightmare. We've been trying to buy since exactly one year ago. We had two purchases fall through and prices (Berkshire) have risen dramatically. As I've been watching the market for so long I have a good idea of fair pricing and any attractive, realistically priced properties are selling pretty much instantly. You've no time to consider your options. You look, you offer same day.

The property that we've had the opportunity to have a second look at has been on the market for a while and is slightly overpriced for what needs doing to the place. If our next couple of viewings are no good then I'm going in with what they will deem to be a cheeky offer.

I've noticed some particularly grabby behaviour on a number of what look like probate properties. £550k for a 3 bed semi that's had nothing done to it since the 1970's? No thanks.

We're first time buyers with a very substantial deposit. Being chain free doesn't seem to have any value at the moment.

It's honestly been the most joyless experience.

Sorry I’m not in Manchester but I’ve noticed prices seem higher than 6 months ago. It really slowed down from December but then in the last week loads more have come on the market in the areas I’m keeping an eye on.
FTB wondering whether to hold off a few months was hoping last year to have started the process by now.

Went to see a house the other day, it was up for £150k. Agent told me they'd had an offer of £167!

Stamp duty holiday. Wait til it’s over if you’re a first time buyer.

Will be interested to see the final sold prices on land registry of these places where people are offering way over asking.

Unless people have got a fair bit of leeway in their deposit they may find their purchase is scuppered by a bank valuation

Unfortunately I’m less optimistic that prices will fall soon. The introduction of new govt backed schemes so buyers only need a 5% deposit will create even more demand.
Though I think prices will stabilise (maybe fall) once furlough is stopped and we see the effects of covid on the economy and jobs. 😔

Can't bloody sell my "priced to sell" house in Manchester

Stamp duty holiday. Wait til it’s over if you’re a first time buyer.

But wouldn't you expect those currently in FTB houses to be selling them now, to move up the ladder and make the most of the stamp duty holiday? Given the huge number of two bed terraced houses around Manchester there's surprisingly few currently on the market which is why the competition for them is huge.

The market is absolutely nuts where we are. Everything is selling so quick, there are 2000 properties on Rightmove with 3 miles, only 800 are available, the rest are all SSTC. Everything is ridiculously overpriced.

HS2 might be helping and people re-evaluating.

Always tracking the market and properties in excess of £1-2-3 million that haven’t budged for years are suddenly selling.

Part of me thinks it’s just hype, inflating the market before a bust, the government are stimulating the market as much as they can to keep things ticking over, if the property market slips then everything else will go too but I don’t see how a runaway market benefits anyone. Keep people out of negative equity yes but this is just plunging people into more debt. It’s very precarious.

If stamp duty holiday and furlough are pulled it would have an impact (fingers crossed Furlough doesn’t affect people obviously). There are mixed reviews in terms of economy, some articles were saying prices would drop considerably and banks had ramped their deposits up to 15/20% which indicated a perceived risk (this was pre furlough and stamp duty extension). However since the last budget there have been a couple of articles saying that London will rise 5% this year and York is expected to rise a whopping 30% in the next 5 years, albeit some of the sources are questionable, such as Savilles, who might have an interest in keeping prices high.

Don’t see how it’s sustainable tbh but worry about rumours of the North catching up with the South, after covid and the shift from office to home I wonder if it might carry some weight...especially when Boris spoke of moving some operations up North after Brexit.

Worry for family and our children. ‘We’re alright Jack’ we’ve apparently ‘made’ 37% on our home since we bought 6 years ago but it’s all relative, the next rung is pushing another £150k for an extra garage, 5th bedroom and a study, you could buy a whole other house for that! It’s extortionate.

Interest rates are a worry, thought they were low when we bought at around 5%, people maxing out on these low rates could run into difficulty if they rise. Try to leave yourself some wiggle room if you can, even if it’s the option to extend the term if you need to.

Scary times, would love to encourage you to wait and keep saving but now I’m not so sure, although this is reminiscent of the 2007/2008 boom before the credit crunch, we’re in unprecedented times.

Whether you buy now or wait hope you find something lovely OP.