What's the market like where you are?

[JammyDodgers75]

North Wales based. I'm a FTB and have been trying to get on the ladder for the best part of a year. I had a purchase fall through September last year after 3 months then decided to take a break for a while. Around the time I started looking again, prices shot up and most properties were over my budget. I've put an offer in on one house since then but it went to best and final and my offer wasn't accepted. I keep getting different opinions/advice from family/friends. Some say to wait as prices will drop and others have said to try and buy somewhere sooner rather than later as it will only get harder. I want to wait which might be risky, who knows. I've noticed that the market is slowing down a bit now. Prices are still crazy around here but a lot of them are either reducing or sitting there for ages with no interest. Do you think prices will come down? I'm sure this question has been asked a 100 times already but I'm curious to see what other people think. Of course we can't predict the future but I'm hoping by waiting it will pay off. What's it like where you are? Have you noticed a change?

SE London Borough here.

We've been under offer for some time now but very much struggling to find something suitable to buy

We've been keeping an eye on a couple of roads we like

One of them has had a number of properties come on the market over the last couple of months

But prices are insane

In our favourite road, a 3 bed semi sold for around £550k last autumn

Now similar properties are asking for at least 100k more and one other one is on for 700k!

It was previously an "affordable" road compared with others but now it's gone crazy too

Although these are asking prices- no STC message gone up yet after several weeks so who knows...

SE they are selling quickly here. God knows when it will calm down. Everything is going for mad prices

S Wales here - market seems as strong as it was a few months ago. Lots of houses being sold via Facebook, so not hitting the agents at all.

I’ve only seen one house sitting on the market locally and that’s because they are asking a lot for it but haven’t done anything to it since they bought it new (about 20 years ago!).

SW England here. It's bonkers. Multiple asking price or over offers on everything and it's all all about proceedability. I'm thinking I'll just have to sell mine and go into rented to be in with a chance, but the estate agents are telling me I'm being deceatest!

We’re looking at Somerset. Earlier this week I did a new properties in last 24 hour search ad 26% were reductions. I’m getting more emails from agents. Villages where they were going really fast slowed right down. Towns with good commuter access to Bristol still strong.

West Yorks, in the commuter suburbs. At the lower end of the market, eg 2 bed terraces it’s a normal market, not overpriced. Barely any houses to rent though (only one in the whole town’s postcode last week). Rents have really risen.

3 & 4 bed family homes in popular areas are flying. Anything priced fairly and presented well is going. Do-er uppers not so much. Well presented family homes in A1 locations selling really well. Anything reasonably priced, in good condition is going too. Attached land is popular.

Things that aren’t selling are houses in A1 locations that need serious work, houses in good but not great locations that are overpriced, a few houses for sale with paddocks (again, probably overpriced but hard to value).

Having watched the market for a while, I think it’s starting to turn. Only really hot properties sell immediately. Lots of reductions and longer on the market. I even saw a repossessed 3 bed semi, which I haven’t seen for a while round here.

I don’t think we will see big discounts at the top end/big family homes of the market here, as the property owners are affluent enough to ride out interest rate rises and sit tight, but I suspect there could but some bargains at the lower end, as the cost of living crisis will affect these homeowners more.

Am keeping an eye on south manchester and seeing a few houses reduced into the Rightmove bracket (<350k) but they're reduced all tonoffers over 350k and the same streets were 300-320k in January!

SW London, v little stock. Prices insane and things are not going as quickly as they were.

Somerset has very little on the market @Volterra and those that are have issues or have been priced way above a sensible price. I live here and watch rightmove mostly for ideas for our new kitchen but was considering moving previously so I’ve been watching the market for 2 years. Most sell within days or don’t get to rightmove.

East Midlands here. I would say the market is cooling. Some are still selling quickly but a lot are getting reduced.

3 & 4 bed properties come on about 2 per month, and sell within a week. Bugger houses within a month. It's still crazy

South West nr Bath

@NeedAHoliday2021 we’ve been watching since autumn 2019 and have tried to move back up twice - hoping for 3rd time lucky ! It’s a big county so I guess we can be seeing different things in different places but I have definitely noticed a very slight slowing and I am getting a lot more emailed through from agents the last week or two - really noticeable.

Some things I thought would have gone immediately have gone eventually but taken their time, even at an ok price. As you say, some does go immediately and on some of the local FB pages I have seen people struggling to find so a mixed picture but I think cost of living etc is starting to make a small difference.

@Volterra i imagine there’s a difference between north and south of the county. We’re just over the Dorset boarder.

@NeedAHoliday2021, I think you are right - I guess you have the benefit of Rail line direct to London? I think maybe that helps a bit? I am in Dorset but lower down and agent says it is slowing here a bit.

I'm not sure what you're gaining by waiting. We remortgaged in the spring. Available mortgages for us were around 1.2% in Jan, they are now about 2.5%. So the same mortgage costs a lot more.

If things go pear-shaped with the economy and houses start losing value (I'm not saying they will) the banks will become much stricter with their lending criteria and require higher deposits. That's what happened with the last financial crash anyway....

I'm in Worcestershire. A house near me is fairly big and detached but not on the best plot or road. Went on for offers over £400k a few months ago. I thought that was really high but it sold within days. That must have fallen through and it went back on the market last month for offers over £440k again sold in days. Don't know what happened but it went back on last week this time for offers over £450k and it has sold again within days. I suspect it is being down valued when the mortgage valuation is being done but the price of it keeps going up and up so people are willing to pay over the odds for it. It is a nice house but the road it's on doesn't have a nice outlook and it is kind of squashed away in the corner and the rest of the road is quite run down and the parking is terrible. It's difficult to even drive down
But it's in a good area and schools are great and countryside all around us. I think anything would sell here to be honest

If things go pear-shaped with the economy and houses start losing value (I'm not saying they will) the banks will become much stricter with their lending criteria and require higher deposits. That's what happened with the last financial crash anyway....

the banks are already tightening up,I know friends who are remortgaging/porting & the banks are being stricter.

I believe FTBs have the gov protection for the smaller deposits so are finding it easier (could be wrong).

We recently tried to move had buyer for our house but we couldn't find anywhere so had to shelve the whole idea viewed 15 properties offered on two lost out on the first to cash buyers despite our offer being the highest offer by £15k then got dicked around by sellers of another house we offered on 20k above guide price they neither rejected nor accepted the offer instead continued to market the property through sheer greed. Not playing that game - 25 ppl chasing every decent house.

(The agents said they'd never known a market like it in 40 years)

Same around here (outer London). Even getting glossy post cards from agents regularly saying they want to sell the house and had a personal letter from some people who wanted me to sell it to them. There are just not many places for sale around here and they get snapped up - house opposite went for exactly £2m last year.

Yes, we had a glossy postcard through our door from a local estate agent. No intention of moving during the current energy crisis though. We bought our solar panels when the FIT was 45p a unit and haven't yet been hit by the massive price hikes, although I know that will come.

Prices stagnate, drop a little (but then so does the amount people can borrow) then they go up. We bought height of the market in 2008, for a few years house dipped but only but £5k max, by 2017 we sold it for £35k profit.

Market is brisk (SW London), but it wasn't ever 10-20% over asking. I bought my house end of last summer, and I bid on three houses and all sold for a little under ask. This is a nice family area with two outstanding primary schools and lovely park and within walking distance from train and tube zone 3. Terraced three plus small box go for around £1-1.2m if modernised. They don't seem to stay For Sale more than a couple weeks if that, but no one is paying over ask.

Where I am in the SE prices are fucking mental. Properties don't even get on Rightmove, they're sold off-market for astronomical sums above the norm.