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Original poster

House prices , ridiculous at the moment or no?

87 replies

Dizzybrunette445 · 19/05/2021 20:55

Hi everyone, I just need to rant about the current property market. Is it a joke where you are as well??
We are trying to find a bigger house as I've just had a baby.. they have been listing houses in some scummy areas where we live for £340k.. which is our budget.. everything has shot up to an extortionate amount, everyone is offering over the asking price for everything and not by £500.. by £20k to be truthful, it's getting on my tits.
Is there any light at the end of the tunnel for us all??

OP posts:
Livingintheclouds · 19/05/2021 21:08

I have found not so much people offering over but it is very fast moving. I've lost out to a cash buyer, and went to 'best and final' on the house I'm buying, and I do think I am paying about £10k over it's value, but what determines the value? Surely mainly what people are prepared to pay?
It's stories of estate agents selling their typical 'hard to sell houses' at over asking which seems to indicate people are buying in a bit of a frenzy.
I planned our move over two years ago. Unfortunate timing.

tryingtocatchthewind · 19/05/2021 21:12

I spoke to my surveyor today, we were the only people out of four he rang today that his wasn’t down valuing. We’ve only got something reasonably priced as we’ve got it before it went on the market. The surveyor was saying he just can’t value without evidence and/or comparables. It’s madness, there’s just nothing on the market where I am so as soon as something comes on there’s 15 viewings and it’s gone in a day

Original poster
Dizzybrunette445 · 19/05/2021 21:13

I agree with you, I suppose it's worth what you're willing to pay! All the investors and cash buyers have come out and snapped them all up.. offering over the price and not giving anyone a chance.. hey ho :-( we've offered the asking price on two.. both went £20k over.. we are in Bournemouth so I'm guessing these London based people who can work from home are moving to different areas..

OP posts:
Original poster
Dizzybrunette445 · 19/05/2021 21:15

Yes exactly you're all in on the same day back to back.. you have to decide within 5 minutes of being there , other wise it's gone ! I've spent longer buying shoes..

it's gone completely insane...

OP posts:
goldpendant · 19/05/2021 21:23

Yes, completely.

We are in desirable area of London and even here it's going more bananas than usual.

A house/development plot up the road sold for £850K in November, it's now up for £1.2m and the vendor hasn't done a thing, not even actually got planning permission yet. It's ludicrous.

flashbac · 19/05/2021 21:45

They are ridiculous but what can you do? The government are intent on keeping them high.

earsup · 20/05/2021 00:17

Yes here too in trendy part of E London...houses sell within hours...A wreck sold for 700k the other day....after spending on renovations etc it will be a 900k house !!...lots of viewings.....as commented, people view quickly and then offer....I spend a week looking at washing machines etc...I find it bizarre that people spend so much money after a brief look around !

Alonim · 20/05/2021 09:35

I find it bizarre that people spend so much money after a brief look around

We're in the same area as you earsup. It is bizarre - but if you don't buy after a brief look around you don't get to move. We don't have any choice do we?

We've chosen to move at this god awful time. But even at other times you really only get a brief look around. I hate it - hence it's taken 7 years for us to actually get our act together. Although it looks like even now we won't be moving ...

QueenOfDuisburg · 20/05/2021 09:48

Absolute joke here too.

Houses on my road are tiny 1930s semis (and I mean tiny - 2 small double bedrooms, a box room, 1 bathroom and kitchen too small for a table, not to mention the box sized gardens) are selling for 340k at the moment. Bigger houses in the area are going for 7-800k (and by 'bigger' I mean 4 bedrooms).

Yet the demand is so high! It almost always comes down to sealed bids. A lot of cash buyers too, just pushing everyone else out of the market.

We desperately need a bigger property but don't want to move. Not only the silly prices but the stress of continuously being outbid (as happened for four years when we tried to buy this house). We're staying put and extending instead.

Original poster
Dizzybrunette445 · 20/05/2021 09:59

It's just not fair is it ? We should've bought a year ago.. but covid has cocked everything up!
We've been outbid twice now by £15-20k.. god help us :-(
We are on a 2 bed terrace.. which is too small for us with a new baby and working from home .. but all the 3 beds around here are £70k more than they were last year.. we've been outpriced of our own area.

OP posts:
IloveSooty424 · 20/05/2021 10:39

It’s the same where I am in north Staffordshire. We’re FTBs and did what we thought was the responsible thing and saved enough money for us to put down a sizeable deposit (25%) so we could get a decent mortgage deal. However every house that’s new on the market is going to best and final offers way above the asking price. We viewed a 1930s semi at the weekend that in a great location but needs some work doing to it. It was listed at offers over £260,000, we have put in a our offer of £265,000 and we’ll find out tomorrow if we’ve been successful or not. However it needs rewiring, new bathroom, new carpets etc so that’s a big chunk of our deposit gone. We probably won’t even get it given the revolving door of viewers going in. It’s so depressing.

Ostara212 · 20/05/2021 11:01

Does anyone think there'll be an adjustment period after this?

Original poster
Dizzybrunette445 · 20/05/2021 11:17

I feel there's gonna be alot of buyers remorse as well.. this stamp duty thing has made everyone panic buy as well.. paying over the odds for something to save £6k 🙄

OP posts:
flashbac · 20/05/2021 11:35

@Ostara212

Does anyone think there'll be an adjustment period after this?
Trying to time the market is like reading tea leaves. I've made that mistake and got priced out. If a global pandemic and brexit didnt make much of a dent there's no rationale for any of it now. As long as quantitative easing exists and charlatans are in government there's no telling where prices will go and when.
WildWestWanda · 20/05/2021 11:56

Scummy? Is this how you refer to poorer communities in real life?

DelectableDetriment · 20/05/2021 12:13

Yep, plenty of scum in my area. The people who shit in the street on the way back from the nightclub, the guys watching naked women dance in the flat window, the people who leave syringes, broken glass and fly tip and do deals on the street. I cheerfully label each and every one of them scum that are bringing us down. I live in a scummy area and thanks to the house price rise this year, 7 years of flogging my guts out as a single parent to get us out have gone down the toilet.

user8783 · 20/05/2021 12:54

We bought a new build in September, the site is on going, the latest house style like ours has just gone on sale for £30,000 more despite it only having a single garage as opposed to our double. Zoopla has recently jumped all our projected house prices by about £15k (it was showing as less than what we bought to start with, which didnt worry me as I know new builds can drop before they increase) I know Zoopla needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, but it's interesting seeing all our houses suddenly jump up.

user1471538283 · 20/05/2021 13:10

The prices in our city are crazy however, I spoke to an EA the other day and she said that a third of all sales are falling through! In some cities it is up to 50%. On top of this I had to demonstrate I had the money prior to even offering and then today had to demonstrate it prior to viewing - so there is definitely something going on.

I do not think this current rate is sustainable. I lived through the 80s and 90s in London and saw the havoc.

user1471538283 · 20/05/2021 13:12

@DelectableDetriment didn't mean poorer areas. I've lived in poorer areas and they were brilliant hard working people. She means rough people.

I think it will work out although it will take some time. I am sorry you live in such an awful neighborhood.

Lampzade · 20/05/2021 13:27

@user1471538283

The prices in our city are crazy however, I spoke to an EA the other day and she said that a third of all sales are falling through! In some cities it is up to 50%. On top of this I had to demonstrate I had the money prior to even offering and then today had to demonstrate it prior to viewing - so there is definitely something going on.

I do not think this current rate is sustainable. I lived through the 80s and 90s in London and saw the havoc.

Agree that many of the sales are falling through. Tbh , many of the overpriced houses are back on the market
TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 20/05/2021 13:38

People on here have been trying to guess the market since the site began. I have moved A LOT in the past 20 years and apart from selling in 2014 we have always sold above asking. I bought and sold again last year. Completed on a house in December for 285k now the neighbours 3 doors down are sold at £335k. The house I sold last year I had bought for 256k 3 years prior and I sold for 385k.

People are always saying there will be a crash / it will stabilise / level out yet it only ever seems to go one way and thats up.

DelectableDetriment · 20/05/2021 13:51

Hello User I didn't take any offence at all at the OP comment of scummy areas. I just wanted to point out in response to another poster that (imo) some areas deserve to be labelled scummy when the conditions and some of the behaviours are exactly that.

Sorry if I've misunderstood your comment. Yep, there's streets and flats around us that are traditional working class and poorer (my background). Hardworking, decent people with pride in their surroundings.

Sorry for derail OP. I'll go back to Rightmove Grin

SingleDontWantToMingle · 20/05/2021 13:59

It does seem a bit like 2006 all over again.

I'm not sure what could put the dampeners on it, unless there is an interest rate rise. On that note, I think people who have maxed themselves out on borrowing could be in for a nasty shock when interest rates go up. Maybe that's what will happen and then there will be forced sales and prices go down due to an over supply of stock and no one buying.

Interesting what pp say about survey down valuing and houses going back on the market.

NC1602 · 20/05/2021 14:47

I'm not seeing houses return to the market where I am on rightmove though.. is anyone else? Or are agents cherry picking people they think will save the chain by stepping in, so it doesn't get re listed online?

Souther · 20/05/2021 14:49

They've been unrealistic for over 10 years if you ask me.

But what do I know?