How soon do you get viewings for London flats

[onthefencesitter]

Flat just went up over the weekend. Understand its a slow market for flats (next step is a bigger flat which is still on the market and selling at a reduced price) but I do need to sell my flat in order to buy the next flat.

But just interested to hear other experiences...

We are moving slightly out z3 to z4 & prices have gone a bit bonkers there, £100k extra than pre covid plus stamp duty. I think more people are skipping the flat stage as it's highly unlike the equity gains of the past will occur in the next 10 yrs.
We could have borrowed more & stayed in z3 but i'm cautious in this climate

Thats true for my area too. I think affordability is stretched in all areas to be honest.

i agree & wages haven't really gone anywhere so interest rate rises are going to hit along with all the increases in food, fuel etc

what i often hear is that the cost of living crisis affects flats more than houses cos people who can afford £1 million houses are less affected by increases in food/fuel. But at the same time, when i read mumsnet threads, there are a lot of people out there who have a much more luxurious lifestyle (and that would actually increase at a higher rate than inflation). Plus things like childcare, activities for children which most people would not want to give up on. So would they prioritize lifestyle or a London house, thats the question.

tbh i'm not sure how many people buy 1m house these days without good salaries, family help & huge equity. Most of the people I know a few yrs older than me had 500k plus equity to move up the ladder. If you bought a flat & it hasn't doubled it's much harder to bridge the gap to houses.

Flats will still have a market but maybe a smaller one.

We have dc & don't want to change lifestyle hence chose the cheaper house. It's one thing servicing a large mortgage on 0.5% interest, it's quite another on 5%

I was a little torn because if we move again in the next 5 yrs to a bigger place it's another 25k plus stamp duty so in some ways a waste of money. But energy bills are likely to be high until at least 2024 & the price of any renovations is £££

Oh I am sure they all have good salaries, family help and huge equity.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/were-swapping-a-40k-nanny-for-a-10k-au-pair-preparing-for-the-cost-of-living-squeeze-cgpb3ssbl

This was published before inflation became 15%. everyone on mumsnet was poking fun at this article but it does indicate that bigger salary often comes with more expensive lifestyle

'They are cutting back on spending after paying huge sums to move from a three-bedroom flat in West Hampstead to a four-bedroom house with a garden and driveway.
Keplinger had planned a kitchen renovation and extension, but building material and labour costs have soared, meaning it is now going to be beyond their £100,000 budget.'

Maybe now they would feel like they can spend less on the move...

My flat ( 2 bed, private garden z3/z4 , £425k) went on the market this weekend. 12 viewings. Some are coming for a 2nd viewing this week. Fingers crossed

I don’t agree. Of course it varies from
area to area but when my daughter was looking around Kentish Town & Tufnell Park recently there were plenty of 1 bed flats on at 500k or more, some as high as 600k. And they sold too.

Our one bed ground floor flat with garden in zone 3 (north london) sold the weekend it went up in June. I was hoping for more viewings to be honest, we had 3, but still got an asking price offer.

When did that flat go under offer? Even if it was only May/June, the buyers will have be able to lock in a mortgage rate when base rates were 0.75-1% lower than they are now. So a buyer with a 15% deposit looking at a flat at the same price (say £450k) as the other one now has to factor in an additional £150-£250 per month on the mortgage repayment, at a time when many of their other costs are rising.