When will it become a "buyer's market"?!?

[PropertyProblems]

I am looking to buy my first house.

But seriously, every house I like the look of seems to be bought by psychic househunters 5 minutes after going on sale.

Why are there so many people buying at the moment? Is this market likely to change soon?

Does stamp duty put a lot of people off moving? The property market really seemed to move when the stamp duty holiday was implemented back in 2020.

It's been a buyers market since around 2016, in my experience it goes in 4 year cycles but slightly altered by covid.

There aren't enough bungalows available for our aging population to all down size into. New bungalows are practically never built any more as its not going to give the best return per square meter of land.

@rubytubeytubes @JamieNotJames we're in exactly the same position, we sold to our ftb in July last year 🤯 we've been out bid so many times or had the highest bid but a cash buyer was picked over us 😐 our poor buyers are sticking with us but god it's tough out there at the min, surely it has to be our turn to "win" the house soon??? Feels like I'm playing the lottery every time I view a house as it's just pure luck if it'll be picked or not

Whilst cheap mortgages are on offer, nothing will change. Supply vs demand is also a huge factor and there’s no signs of increasing supply of properties on the market. Older people aren’t downsizing due to moving costs and wanting space after the lockdowns and lack of good smaller housing. This is just going to continue for a long while yet…

Detached house 4 beds by us just been bought by a couple in their 70's!
They wanted to be nearer grandkids.

Upside for us is don't see them having wild garden parties come the summer 😁

We are headed for a recession as a result of Brexit and the cost of living crisis and the knock on effect on business because many of them will not be able to afford their running costs and will lose business because people won’t be able to afford to spend as much on non-essentials - much less so when businesses increase prices to cover costs.
I am convinced that a property crash is inevitable so my advice to any first time buyer at the moment would be to wait . Property is over-priced at the moment and is due a correction. I bought my house for £275k 5 years ago. Properties in my street that are identical to mine are now selling for nearly £0.5m. It’s ridiculous and it’s even impacted on the rental market with the rental on 2 bed flats costing more than my monthly mortgage payment on a 5 bed house. I live in a small town that people from London and the southeast have been flocking too which has further fuelled the demand however. I hope the prices in my area crash so they all end up in negative equity.

@SpatulaSpoon

Detached house 4 beds by us just been bought by a couple in their 70's! They wanted to be nearer grandkids.

Upside for us is don't see them having wild garden parties come the summer 😁

This really annoys me. On one hand it's their money their choice but on the other it's speaks of the unfair wealth gap between generations and adds to the housing crisis not to mention the waste of heating a home that is too big for one's needs, given that fuel is so expensive now due to higher demand.

There's some poor attitudes towards older people on this thread.

My parents are only early 60s but they'd consider moving from their 3bed semi to a bungalow within the next ten years if the right one was available. However, they're not decrepit; they'd still want one that was a decent size for them to host and have the grandchildren to stay. They'd rather not have to do major work, so a certain standard of decor is needed. Plus lots of the bungalows in our general area are quite isolated and not near bus stops, which is impractical when they'll want this to be their last move.

It's not just starter homes that are lacking in this country.

We're FTB and have been saving for four years and had our deposit saved 18 months. But we're still renting as there is hardly anything out there and it gets snapped up within hours.
I've been sitting watching prices creep up but we're still not sure it's a merry-go-round we're willing to get on.

We were going to put our house on the market come Easter but the town we want to move to has seen prices jump massively since late last year

A house that was £280/290k is now at least £325k. Our house in a different town hasn't matched their increase

There's barely any houses coming on the market and those that are are either not suitable, too expensive or sold within days

Our friends had an offer accepted in June and still haven't moved. They've gone through hell, I haven't got the energy what with a toddler, a house that looks trashed all the time and not getting home from work until 6pm

@MrsTophamHat

There's some poor attitudes towards older people on this thread.

My parents are only early 60s but they'd consider moving from their 3bed semi to a bungalow within the next ten years if the right one was available. However, they're not decrepit; they'd still want one that was a decent size for them to host and have the grandchildren to stay. They'd rather not have to do major work, so a certain standard of decor is needed. Plus lots of the bungalows in our general area are quite isolated and not near bus stops, which is impractical when they'll want this to be their last move.

It's not just starter homes that are lacking in this country.

We are lacking most in 2nd tier affordable homes.

Theres been a big emphasis on ftb homes and developers want to build executive 4 bed detached because they make most money off them. There has been little to encourage the development of the middle of the market. This is now being recognised as a massive problem.

The issue being that the lack of supply in this tier has inflated the price. So not only is there limited supply but it makes it beyond the reach of many young families who got ftb property as couples but subsequently had children and need to move up the property ladder to a family home.

This in turn clogs up the ftb homes as there is less turnover in them than there should be.

Many older couples are also chasing elusive small family homes (smaller 3 beds) to downsize after kids too, and have more buying power than young families so are more likely to be buying them.

I've said this for a long time and made a point to our local planners because its such an issue around here some years ago. I was please to see that a couple of government reports in the last two years are now saying the same thing.

This is what happens when there isn't thoughtful planning strategies going on at local government level. Its either been driven by developers chasing money or strategies which are too narrow in focus.

The irony is that its effectively led to the market being strangled by restricted movement, and thats been a major factor in driving up price due to an overall lack of stock available for sale.

We need to build a lot more smaller family homes but now there is a lack of incentive for developers and those who are on tier 2 or above already.

Unless there is significant government intervention on this, there will be a problem for decades even if there is a recession.

@blibblibs

We're FTB and have been saving for four years and had our deposit saved 18 months. But we're still renting as there is hardly anything out there and it gets snapped up within hours. I've been sitting watching prices creep up but we're still not sure it's a merry-go-round we're willing to get on.

@blibblibs we are in exactly the same position. So frustrating that we have lived for frugally years but the goalposts just shifted...again

We bought in 2017 and it was exactly like that then. Houses went so fast luckily we got this lovely home in the end but it’s very stressful!

For the first time in a long time, I honestly think a crash is coming. Huge cost of living increases. Mortgage rates moving up (and there will be multiple increases in succession). Wages not keeping up at all. Its the perfect recipe for a a long overdue correction in the market. I give it 6 months before we go off a cliff - and this is worldwide/not just in the UK.

When interest rates go up to stem the increasing inflation rate and many homeowners find difficulty in paying their mortgages at rates of 3-5%.
The housing market will change, more houses will come onto the market and prices will drop.
The housing market is cyclical like the economy and fluctuates, just wait a while.

Surely has to run out of steam soon as the cost of living reality starts to bite.

It took us 7 months of intense stress after accepting an offer on our old
house to find a suitable family home that we could afford and that we were successful in getting our offer accepted. It then took us until the end of December to actually move! A nightmare year.

We’ve moved into a money pit but we thank our good luck every day that we actually managed to do it and that at least we bought the money pit at 40k less than the neighbouring properties which softens the blow.

We're trying to buy (sold our house last year and gone into rented as we needed to relocate) and there's hardly anything suitable coming on the market. We want a 4-5 bed family house. We've viewed 5 properties over 2.5 months, all of them probate or elderly person downsizing sales. Most of those needed quite a lot of work doing (not that we mind that).

Seeing lots of ads for new builds on the city outskirts with tiny rooms, many bathrooms and a car-centred lifestyle which isn't at all what we want!

As one of the derided boomers here, about to consider moving from the family home we bought 25 years ago and to relocate from our rural SW village closer to family, all I can say is that while we need fewer bedrooms, we shall want the same amount of social space and similar size rooms (otherwise our furniture won't fit). So we're not ever going to be customers for a new build rabbit hutch on the edge of a town, or for an over-priced 'retirement' flat. And until we find something suitable, our lovely house is firmly not for sale.

I am convinced that a property crash is inevitable so my advice to any first time buyer at the moment would be to wait . Property is over-priced at the moment and is due a correction.

People have been predicting this for years and years. Maybe it'll happen - but if I'd listened to it when I bought my first flat 8 years ago, I'd be royally fucked now.

It's a horrible combination of Brexit making the pound weaker, Covid, and less downsizing; on top of cheap mortgages.

The cost of living going up might have an impact; but where I am, mortgages would need to go up SUBSTANTIALLY to be anywhere near rental prices... so that might not have the desired effect, either. And if it does hit hard, it'll probably stop people from moving... which means fewer properties available, and more likelihood of a bidding war for each one.

I went against the usual MN advice and managed to get a flat nearly 9 years ago. It needed to be done up... I had to do it slowly, mostly myself, because I couldn't afford anything else. The value went up, and my salary went up, and I've managed to move into a three bed house now... but again, it needs work. I'm taking up carpet and sanding floorboards this weekend. I'd never have got onto the ladder any other way, I don't think.

@XingMing

As one of the derided boomers here, about to consider moving from the family home we bought 25 years ago and to relocate from our rural SW village closer to family, all I can say is that while we need fewer bedrooms, we shall want the same amount of social space and similar size rooms (otherwise our furniture won't fit). So we're not ever going to be customers for a new build rabbit hutch on the edge of a town, or for an over-priced 'retirement' flat. And until we find something suitable, our lovely house is firmly not for sale.

Yep this is the issue.

I’m almost at this stage too. And on our road we have lots of older singletons in 3-4 bed houses who don’t want to leave their neighbours etc

We have a growing aging population who are pretty fit and well so don’t want to go in to tiny retirement flats.

I feel everyone’s pain. Been looking for a house on and off for the last 18m. Have viewed several but haven’t liked any enough to even offer on, as they’ve been top of our budget leaving no money for refurbs. The one we did like, which was top of our budget but needed nothing doing to it, decided they didn’t want to sell after all

Looked at another today for the same price but it was no comparison IMO and I just didn’t like it but almost feel I need to offer on it just to have the chance of having SOMETHING which is a sad state of affairs.

Hate paying rent every month for a house I’ve long outgrown

@MidnightMeltdown

I find it astonishing that this is still going on. I bought my house in summer of 2020 after the first lockdown, and before the stamp duty holiday. The market was insane then, with multiple offers on everything I viewed, and houses being snapped up well above asking. I thought that it was temporary due to the market being shutdown during lockdown, and that it would calm down by early 2021. In fact I contemplated waiting 6 months for things to calm down, as it was just so stressful. I'm now really glad that I didn't! I really have no idea how or why this has continued so long.

I remember some posters on this board suggesting that the market would calm down in 2021. I suggested that this would not be the case and was widely lambasted. . In fact in my area ( South East) hasn’t calmed down at all

Property prices are high because quantitative easing and low interest rates mean that anyone with money buys assets. Property is one such asset.

Over the past two years, those who already had the kind of money that allowed them to do that got even more money. So they're buying more assets.

When will it end? Probably, never. Wealth looks different, accumulates differently and is utilised differently since 2008.

It's nothing to do with supply and demand, wages, population growth or anything else.

I am convinced that a property crash is inevitable so my advice to any first time buyer at the moment would be to wait . Property is over-priced at the moment and is due a correction.

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens. I think that prices might dip a bit, particularly in areas that are very over priced (e.g. London), but I don't think that they'll be the big crash that people keep predicting. Especially not now that the cost of building is increasing so much.

There are simply too many people trying to get on the ladder these days, so any small price dip is likely to be met with a surge in demand. Also, wealth is very unevenly distributed. Lots of people will be locked out of the market, but plenty with money will be ready to snap up investments.

A crash in property prices only happens when people can't afford to buy, so it doesn't benefit first time buyers needing mortgages, it benefits cash buyers (usually investors).

I find it a bit strange when people keep insisting that there must be a crash coming as if it's some kind of prophecy. It's a very different market compared to what it once was. I think it's more likely that in the future, more property will be owned by fewer people, and more people will rent for life. It's a sad state of affairs but our society is becoming increasingly unequal, and things like inheritance are becoming far more important than what you earn by working.