Is the housing market just reeeeally slow at the moment?

[FujiWisteria]

We have our house on the market at the moment, a terraced 2 up 2 down in Cambridgeshire. It's been up for a week and 2 viewings so far. I've never sold before but I had thought there would be a few more viewings than that. Is it just a symptom of an incredibly slow/uncertain market? We're competitively priced and our house is reasonably well maintained...

Yes. General election coming up, super high interest rates and high cost of living. People aren't buying much at the moment.

It must depend on the area because the opposite is true where we are. 2 houses on our streets were on the market and sold in less than a week in the last 2 months. My sister is currently house hunting and 3 times now has seen a property on Rightmove, contacted and arranged a viewing for the following day/day after, and received a phone call before the viewing to say that the property has now sold so the viewing cancelled.

We’re in the same position in Bristol. Trying to sell a flat in a previously very popular area. When I bought the flat 5 years ago it was impossible to even get a second viewing on a property. The market is so slow at the moment. 25 similar properties have gone into the market in the same area in the past 6 weeks - 5 have sold so far.

We are finding very little is coming on the market too. In the past month we’ve only been able view one house. We are starting to worry now as we accepted an offer on ours 2 weeks ago at the end of this week. We are keen to move, but very little seems to be coming up to buy! Ours was on for 3 weeks and we had 16 viewings.

It's compulsory to post the RightMove link so we can advise.

my sale fell through and house is back on the market. Estate Agent said everything is very quiet at the moment due to the election.

Also trying to sell. Getting viewings, positive feedback but no offers as people are waiting to see what happens. Very worried we’ll lose out on our onward purchase. All very slow and frustrating!

Took 8 months to sell mine

It simultaneously that there's very few people out there buying which is putting many people off from trying to sell, so there's very little on the market. It's a sort of stalemate out there - neither a buyers nor a sellers market.

Interesting. Ours has been on for just over a month… had 11ish viewings but no offers. Was wondering whether to drop price or just if the market is slow?

I hope so, been actively looking to buy for a few months but the last 3 weeks there has been nothing coming on. Also trying to sell an ideal FTB flat which has had 1 viewing in a month...

Competitively priced compared to others that have sold or are still on the market?

We have been looking for a property for 6 months never known it to be this slow.

The market is stagnant at the moment and has been for ages. If anyone needs a sale then they need to ensure their property is priced realistically or it just won’t sell.

Must vary

Our agent posted ours on line on Sunday
About 10 viewings.
1 asking offer and 1 above, 2 more wanted 2nd viewing but I didnt want sealed bids

Buying- been for sale for 5 weeks. 1 asking price but not sold. Won't go below asking. We offered asking and were accepted.

based what evidence?

Sold in 1 area and bought in another- both markets are buzzing!
Are you crashytime?

We accepted an offer on our house over a month ago but still no onwards purchase. So frustrating because literally nothing is coming on the market. Our buyers said they are happy to wait but for how long I didn't know. So frustrating because there was a property that literally ticked all our boxes that sold just before we had listed ours.

That is so ironic, I had 100 arguments with the guy when he was on Mumsnet. He didn’t think the market was stagnant he thought the market was crashing as per his username.

The fact is there are regional variations rather than just one market but there is so much evidence the market generally is stagnant I don’t know where to begin. There’s data from the Office for National Statistics that prices have risen about 1% over the last year in the UK generally - I’ll provide the link tomorrow but I linked it earlier today in the “House prices” thread.

We've been on the market a few months now, had lots of viewings & 3 very low offers. The viewers had champagne taste on a lemonade budget, v unrealistic about what they could afford. Combined with the GE, CoL and high interest rates, the market has slowed down.

How old are you? The current interest rates are lower than the long term average.

It has been really interesting reading your comments. I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling like this. There has been a few houses that have sold very quickly in the area, but these tend to be detached properties. I think my property is more suited to FTB and I do wonder if it's hard for them getting mortgages at the moment. Hopefully things will change when the election happens!

It depends whereabouts you are. We sold our house in a lovely South Cambs village 18 months ago. Lots of viewings and offers. We have friends in the same village now trying to sell and they are struggling. The market there has really slowed

Property is very over priced now, especially for first time buyers who may not be earning enough against property prices or have a high enough deposit. It is probably a bit easier if you are higher up the chain and have a property already that has grown in value.

Yes. GE coming up, inflation rates coming down so everyone hoping for a mortgage drop in the next couple of months. How will the money markets react to a Starmer govt?

I think everyone is biding their time if at all possible.

There was a time a few years ago when we bought this house when you were tripping over for sale/sold signs, and new ones appeared all the time. I was only thinking the other day that there are far fewer places for sale now and my continuing Rightmove addiction tells me things are taking much longer to shift. Nice mid size town, home counties.

I have family who have had their place on the market for nearly 2 yrs in a large town in the Midlands.... On the face of it and compared to others similar it is fairly priced and they have dropped it, but considering some specifics of their position, yes, it's still overpriced to actually sell with the market so slow and reluctant. (They can't afford to drop the price more, so it sits there....).

It's early days for you op. Good luck!