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Original poster

Please help me understand the market!

38 replies

Cattenberg · 08/05/2021 23:23

It’s a crazy sellers’ market in this ordinary, non-touristy West Country town. My own home sold in less than a week and I can’t find a single property available to view, let alone buy.

Is this the same everywhere in the UK, even in London? And are any areas showing signs of calming down again? I don’t know whether to grab a property in a less than ideal area before prices shoot up further or wait this out calmly.

OP posts:
HmmmmmmInteresting · 08/05/2021 23:27

It's the same where I am, OP. It's absolutely crazy. I put my house up for sale and the bidding war that ensued was crazy. I had people knocking on my door offering significantly above asking price. Some of these people hadn't even viewed ConfusedI couldn't find anywhere because houses were selling with numerous offers and going above asking. Prices have shot up a ridiculous amount. I decided to stay put because of the madness of it all. I think it's a bubble.

TeamMummy · 08/05/2021 23:51

Same here. You'll sell very fast but you won't be able to buy or even get a viewing. Friends are on the market soon and I don't envy them

dane8 · 09/05/2021 00:16

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HmmmmmmInteresting · 09/05/2021 00:30

I don't get it because house prices are so high compared to wages already. How high can they go?! Like London?! 😱

Changingwiththetimes · 09/05/2021 00:40

I'm trying to buy in SW London and things are being snapped up in days. A house was listed Tuesday, saw it Wednesday and made an offer that evening, was beaten by a cash buyer and it was listed as sold on Thursday.

CatAndHisKit · 09/05/2021 01:51

dane8 same here!
I don't understand why suddenly can people afford to offer way above asking price - in droves! Covid was supposed to surpress the economy / some job losses expected, yet people have all these extra money to hugely overpay for houses / take risk?

flashbac · 09/05/2021 03:47

@CatAndHisKit

dane8 same here! I don't understand why suddenly can people afford to offer way above asking price - in droves! Covid was supposed to surpress the economy / some job losses expected, yet people have all these extra money to hugely overpay for houses / take risk?
I don't understand it either. The cynic in me thinks they guzunder later.
FoolsAssassin · 09/05/2021 06:24

We’re on south coast and it’s very buoyant but the over priced stuff is now sticking and being reduced and a friend in SW said she has started to notice some reductions. Still a fair few looking though judging by posts on FB asking if people are planning to go on, its 4 bed houses that are being asked for.

I’d like something a bit smaller now . There has been absolutely nothing coming on that I want for months and know several people who want exactly the same as us so haven’t bothered putting ours on.

Andthenanothercupoftea · 09/05/2021 07:57

@catandhiskit for some people who didn't have to commute and saved by not going out etc. covid allowed them to save quite a lot over the last 12 months. Couple that with people moving outside of London where they are able to get more for their money and there are a reasonable chunk of people in quite a good financial situation.

The market is the same here - we did ours in a couple of week (it's an odd house, so was never going to go in days) and it was lucky that one of the houses we'd managed to view was still available as nothing suitable had come on the market (so we're paying asking price).

From talking to our estate agent it's starting to be a bit of a vicious circle with people not wanting to come on because there's nothing on etc.

cosmi · 09/05/2021 08:04

@Changingwiththetimes

I'm trying to buy in SW London and things are being snapped up in days. A house was listed Tuesday, saw it Wednesday and made an offer that evening, was beaten by a cash buyer and it was listed as sold on Thursday.
Also SW London, but have the opposite experience.

Lots of price reductions, houses sticking etc. SW19 3 bed market.

Dinosauraddict · 09/05/2021 09:14

We're SE (not London) and our house had multiple offers within 10 days (and that's an expensive and quirky house). We were very lucky with the one we got. There wasn't much on market at all (and what was on, was going in less than a day and over asking) but the one we fell in love with we managed to get for basically asking price due to our position (we did put an offer in lower but it got rejected). Now just desperately hoping the chain stays together and we can complete next month.

Jarstastic · 09/05/2021 09:45

It seems the same in the south east. The exception seems to be prime central London but much of this is overseas buyers.

We got ourselves into a chain free position but lost a dream house to a cash buyer*. We find get another house but vendors vendors pulled out on day of exchange. So another £2.5k down for us.

However, we’ve noticed quite a few other houses coming back on the market the last week (sometimes going SSTC quickly again) so I think a higher % of sales aren’t going through.

I don’t know if it’s cold feet or valuations. Land registry is way behind how fast the market is moving so I can imagine lenders may not want to take the risk unless someone has a large deposit.

There was an article in a paper yesterday which included someone who had offered well over the asking price to secure but lenders valuation had been less and they had to renegotiate. Maybe the vendor should have gone with someone who had considered that in their offer.

kazza446 · 09/05/2021 10:05

Same here in the north west. Houses are selling within a day. You can’t view properties unless you have proof of sale and houses are selling way above asking price!

RochelleGoyle · 09/05/2021 10:25

I'm in South Wales and it's the same here. I'm trying to buy for the first time and so far have had 2 offers rejected. Yesterday I offered 10k above the asking price for a property and still didn't get it. It's horribly stressful. I always thought you went in with an offer below asking price and then negotiated up, but at the moment it seems as though if you don't offer at least the asking price you'd have no chance at all. There were 6 offers on the house yesterday so they went to 'best and final' offers within as hour of the last viewing. Confused

Alisesia · 09/05/2021 10:33

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IamwhoIsayIam · 09/05/2021 10:43

The town I live in (rural, NW england) has only six houses for sale and only three have come on since January, yet demand is high. We bought our onward purchase in Dec - it came on the market on a Thursday, we viewed on Saturday, three offers on Monday and sale agreed by end of the day.

Our current house is going on the market tomorrow - fingers crossed it goes fast so we can move into the house we have already bought! We stretched ourselves to complete the purchase before our own house sold as there was no chance of us getting it if we were in a chain.

mklanch · 09/05/2021 12:32

honestly i dont know why people are buying in this craziness!
everything is ridiculously overpriced!
ive seen houses for £450,000 that the owners brought only a year or 2 ago for under £300,000. thats a ridiculous rise in price.
i wonder if people are even doing their research properly.
im looking in lincolnshire and surrounding areas...ive seen properties coming on for stupid amounts...these amounts cannot be sustained in these areas! one house i saw sold in February 2021 for £315k...they have done nothing to it but listed it for £395!! in 2 months the house price rose by 80k!! i don't think so.
i think alof of people are seriously trying their luck in this crazy market with the valuations....but there is always 1 idiot that comes along and pays it! most of the time its people moving from more expensive areas who cant believe the house they can get for their money further north. so they pay over what its on for because they dont have the braincells to check area info first!
we were looking at a house we thought was overpriced for what it was. they wanted £415k...(they purchased it 3 years ago for £240k and have dont no updates). we felt it should be on for around £360-£380k max!! so it was on for over 6 months, no reductions and no sale. so it dissapeared from the market, only to reappear a week later with a different estate agent and for £450k!!! INSANE!

Liliolla · 09/05/2021 13:03

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Themostwonderfultimeoftheyear · 09/05/2021 15:00

We are very fortunate to be selling in a fast market and buying in a slower one.

Original poster
Cattenberg · 09/05/2021 15:13

I can think of a few possible reasons, but I’m not sure if any of them are right:

The stamp duty holiday
Backlog of moves due to lockdown
Possible reduced building during lockdown
People moving out of London and other cities as they want more space following lockdown (and can WFH more)

It sounds from this thread that the last possible reason isn’t much of a factor.

OP posts:
Dinosauraddict · 09/05/2021 17:04

I think the space element is a factor, so you'll find that the things shifting the absolute least everywhere right now are 1 bed flats with no outside space (putting cladding/flat issue to one side). A lot of people are now wanting an extra bedroom for a study that they didn't need before, and are seeing a garden as a priority in case of future lockdowns. Area also seems to be becoming even more important IMO. And I think another slightly emotional factor is that people have been stuck both inside and in a rut for 12 months and desperately want a change/adventure.

littlebite · 09/05/2021 18:03

I agree with people wanting a change.
A lot of people WFH in secure jobs have saved thousands a month on commute and going out/holidays etc.
(I'm not one of them - but I've stilled saved a fair big in lockdown, which I was intending to do anyway)

I know several couple saving approx £4K a month, they are now looking u to buy bigger places with room for garden offices etc

Original poster
Cattenberg · 09/05/2021 20:27

I actually thought property prices would go down due to job losses and economic uncertainty.

I didn’t think of the people who have been able to save money during lockdown, which is daft because I’m one of them, to a limited extent.

OP posts:
cosmi · 09/05/2021 22:14

@littlebite

I agree with people wanting a change. A lot of people WFH in secure jobs have saved thousands a month on commute and going out/holidays etc. (I'm not one of them - but I've stilled saved a fair big in lockdown, which I was intending to do anyway)

I know several couple saving approx £4K a month, they are now looking u to buy bigger places with room for garden offices etc

Definitely an element of people having saved and can now afford to move. WFH needing more space too.

£30 - 50k saved over the year, plus the stamp duty cut. Makes quite a big difference to someones budget, even in London.

Isittimenow · 09/05/2021 23:44

I’m fascinated by this thread and just amazed that this is happening everywhere! It’s exactly the same here in Scotland and we don’t have any LBTT reductions or holidays anymore.

It’s 4 beds they’re after here too and I would imagine that until recent times 3 beds was your average family home for people with 2 or possibly even 3 kids but now with so many people moving to permanent WFH everyone needs an office.

The price range I’m looking in I don’t imagine is going to be full of people having managed to save tens of thousands in the last year (thousands possibly) so I just don’t understand where this cash is coming from. Possibly large amounts of equity, I know.

Do some people maybe not realise that the bank will only lend you 90/95% of what a house is worth? Not what you decide you’re paying for it.

Also yes to houses coming back on then selling again quickly presumably in order for the seller not to lose out on their purchase.

I’m not selling my house until I’ve got something because it’s just too uncertain. Luckily we’ve not been told we can’t view or offer due to not having sold but we know it puts us in a less desirable position.

Does anyone any predictions for what will happen over the next few months?