No viewing on our house in two weeks!

[Nataliemcm9]

I know the current market isn’t great, but we have had our house up for sale coming up to two weeks and not one single view. I’m starting to think maybe it’s up for too much? But we don’t want to reduce it yet. Is anyone else have the same issue with selling their home at the moment?

Friends helping elderly relative to sell her house. It’s huge, has brand new en-suite, detached with 4 bedrooms and a snug/home office/walk in wardrobe. The family bathroom is dated but apart from that, it’s an amazing house. It’s in a part of Leicestershire that’s lovely but houses aren’t shifting there at the mo. They wanted 550k - here down south it would buy you a terrace or very dated semi with 3 beds.

I hope that’s good for you financially 🤞🏽
for a lot of people it’s still very high. It’s very high for me. You can check mortgage payments in rightmove directly. Under any house is a mortgage calculator.

Put a house price in, your deposit and interest rate and it’ll tell you the monthly payment. For a lot of people, buying a standard family home will cost a fortune at 4%. For some it’s £3k per month! It explains why London and more expensive areas are not selling well. But if you’re buying a one bed flat, monthly payments probably won’t hit you that bad. Depends on your income and what you’re buying. But most people who are stuck in the market are families - they can’t move or they can’t buy because they simply can’t afford it still.

Agreed. It has to come with house prices making sense though relative to incomes. Otherwise no one will buy, which is what is happening. Personally, i think this is the “crash” people will see - it’ll happen slowly. If anyone bought an overpriced house over the last few years because it was affordable at 1% interest rate, then they will see it depreciate a lot.

They have come down from the peak (for now) but are still 2-3 times higher than they have been for years. That's not a great selling point at the moment! This combined with all the other factors squeezing affordability has resulted in falls and these are clearly continuing.

Yes I think a slow crash would seem to be on the cards, maybe 'correction' would be a better term?

If properties are not shifting at all, it is because the sellers are pricing them far too high relative to incomes. Incomes in Leicestershire are not the same as incomes and general wealth in Surrey, poles apart.

Unfortunately the sustained period of abnormally low interest rates following the 2008 crash leaves us in a situation where many feel as if 1 or 2% is the norm to which interest rates will inevitably return.
I feel this is part of the reason so many sellers are unwilling to reduce to a level which would incentivize a sale.

I agree. The long period of ZIRP and QE was such a huge mistake.
I agree that lots of sellers are holding out, desperately hoping that rates will fall to nothing again or that the recent decreases will bring all the buyers back. It's unrealistic imo and just means that far less sales are taking place. I think quite a lot of these people who are 'holding out' will regret their decision but time will tell as always!

Yes I see them holding out, then reluctantly admitting that the house isn't worth what they want and slicing 5% of the asking price🤦🏼‍♀️
(Which is nowhere near enough to incentivize anyone to buy it)

I think correction would be a better term and more accurate if prices in some areas are reverting back to their pre Covid prices.

A slow crash seems a bit of an oxymoron really. A correction or a slide is more realistic considering prices in most areas are slowly falling or stagnating.

I think buyers and sellers and everyone ought to realise that we aren't returning to 1-2% interest rates any time in the foreseeable future.

I used to use the word "correction" but because salaries have not really increased for most people, I call it a "slow crash" because house prices will have to reflect the interest rates and salaries. People could only afford the higher prices before because the 1-2% interest rate allowed that. The norm is now 4-5%. It's actually cheaper to rent, even if you're buying a one bedroom flat.

Slow crashes don’t happen, firstly volumes drop then prices tank.

Yes, it has been more of a slide but it could speed up depending on how events unfold. As @Brumhilda says, volumes tend to fall and then prices. I think this will take a while personally.

Unfortunately I don’t think it’s started yet.

Relatively small changes so far compared to those that might happen in time.

As buyers who had time to wait before we found "the one", watching slight drops in prices was kinda entertaining, to be frank. I think a lot of buyers are doing the same. Just watching and either laughing or 🤦🏼‍♀️

Either way, it's a buyer's market

I think it’s just the beginning of that.

there are still an awful lot of deluded sellers.

lots of probate is just sitting there

So, I’m not in Surrey. But I’m in a city of where the wealth is here because of the uni but lecturers and staff can no longer afford city or suburban homes. Where the person lived in Leicestershire is a posh village so not quite what you are thinking.

Whatever your specific comparisons are (you said 'down South'), it doesn't matter. The point remains that, if properties in whatever village you are referring to are not shifting, it is because the sellers are listing them at unrealistic prices. This is happening a lot at present.

So you mistake what I’m saying completely - I’m not making a comparison to illustrate that I don’t know different areas have different property prices. But to show that I do.

There is no slump in prices here but there clearly is in Leicestershire. Additionally, it’s dropping fast and a realistic price gets knocked down and down in a buyers market.

Okay but reading your posts again, it really isn't clear.
I agree that prices are dropping fast in some areas and that buyers will often negotiate. Many buyers have had their buying power reduced by 25-30%.

Agree that it’s the price. I’ve been looking for a property in a particular area since September. Prices are ridiculous. I do believe that most vendors are out of touch. I’ve now put a deposit down on a newbuild for a good price with great incentives. Resale properties on the same estate (same builder) are still up for £20k higher than I’m paying. It’s just not going to happen.

Mumsnet is so weird, it really is the place where some cannot read and take at face value.

You seem to have contradicted yourself there, accusing of me of both not being able to read and taking things at face value.
Some people just have to start the insults rather than admitting any fault.