Are houses in suburban London really significantly overpriced atm?

[LlamaGiles]

DP and I are upsizing, we've not been in a position to move before now for various financial reasons so we've basically missed the stamp duty holiday. I keep hearing there aren't many properties available now and consequently the prices for those that are are inflated. I can't tell because I never looked at house prices until now! Should we hold out for a few months? I'd really like to move now as we are planning more IVF (our toddler is IVF) in autumn.

I would start looking house prices are just going up and I think will continue to do so. They may level out but doubt they will go down. It would be nice for you to be in a new lace before you start the IVF process too.

I live in the south London suburbs and at the moment, house prices near me are high. I think that is the Lockdown effect and will settle down but I have no idea really.

I think London house prices will be flat/rising (not falling) due to demand

I recently bought, & one reason is that I expect less availability in next couple of years due both to finance, & also as SD holiday has encouraged many people to move this year

I am in the outer suburbs and prices are rising and a lot of properties have gone on the market recently. There was a drop a couple of years ago due to Brexit but now Covid means more people want a house in the suburbs rather than an inner city flat. In the long term, prices always rise in London.

The market may slow a bit but I don't think the prices will come down at all.

Looking at sold prices in streets you're interested in might help. Then you can see if there have been any significant rises of late.

We just bought in Richmond-upon-Thames and it did seem to me that prices were high, we wanted to get in before the SDLT rise though.

I would just buy if you can. In the long run I'm sure the amount of money you could have saved would be pretty minor. I bought my (first) house in 2018, when there was loads in the news about Brexit meaning a house price crash and we debated holding out a bit longer but it didn't happen, and I'm glad we didn't.

I think even if prices had crashed I would still be glad to be in a house that suits my needs rather than the small flat we were renting for another year.

In our area asking prices don’t seem to be significantly higher than they have been recently but things are absolutely flying off the market

we have a rental house in zone 4 Redbridge, its in the nice part and close to the station and will sell next year...its got catchment for good schools etc but prices are not very high for what you get...a huge 4 bed , garage, massive garden, driveway etc...may get about 600k...some are on market for 800k but have sat for a few years at that price....so i dont think prices are rising in all the suburbs.

The economy is much poorer than pre COVID, 1.5m people left the UK of which half were based in London according to some estimates so we ll see some softening in the rental market pretty rapidly when the state pull the plug on state help. As yield on BTL reduced so will the price potential investors will want to pay. I can’t find one driver behind the patchy housing mini boom other than lockdown fatigue i.e. sentiment, which may turn quickly once one rediscover that having holidays, going out after work and enjoy leisure activities are as desirable than having a big home with a garden with a 3 hours commute.

Prices for family homes in nice (and not so) part of London have been flat but also stratospherically high for many years now so it isn’t any more overpriced than it has been for a while, it s just down on how long you are willing to wait in a less suitable accommodation.

I'd be really reluctant to buy in the burbs at the moment. I think there will be a reverse doughnut effect with houses in the centre of town holding their value because people really want to live centrally and houses further out increasing in value as people don;t need to go in every day. I think that zones 3-6 will see a collapse in values as people don't want to pay the premium for being on the fringes when they don't need to head into town every day.

I sold with offer in October, completed February in zone 5, would say house prices around there have been fairly stable/low increases for a few years now. Though in lockdown saw flats struggle to sell, houses with small gardens selling but slower up to £600kish, some not selling above that or several price reductions, your typical family home with medium / large garden flying off the shelves and selling quickly or prices pushed up. Some of the garden effect I expect to reverse as people return to offices.

Houses are selling quickly so what is left on market is often overpriced or an issue with. Sometimes that issue is a small garden / no garden which if you are OK you may be able to make a low offer on and get. If you are after your typical 3 bed house with big garden you will need to pounce as come on or wait it out and hope prices come down which may do after stamp duty ends but may be less for sale.

I would keep looking but don't bid more than is sensible.