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...

We have sold ours STC but cannot find anything to buy. Plus not enough estate agents to show people round...we are viewing one in 3 weeks as that is the earliest date!

It's incredibly slow here. We've been on the market since January with relatively few viewings. Every house in our village and those near us is the same. The house we'd like to buy went up a week or two after us and is still on.

Houses here are selling for asking price (or close enough that the asking price isn't the issue), they're just taking months to do so. It's an expensive area and these are FTB houses, so the buyers just don't exist in the same numbers they used to thanks to the mortgage rates. An identical house to ours went on sale the same time as us and went for £20k more than our current list price a few months in. If you want a 3 bed house in our market, ours is the best in terms of size:price ratio (eg 2 doubles with a box room is only £20k cheaper, 3 similar sized rooms with a only a little more living space is £45k more).

Luckily we don't need to move so don't need to sell for rock bottom prices and can see if things improve. But we do want to move and have the funds for a better house so it's annoying.

Fairly normal for there to not be much movement before an election. Plus interest rates are high.

Painfully slow in Norfolk. Put house on market a month ago, it reasonably priced family home in sought after location. 4 viewings, one didn't turn up. Nothing to buy coming on market either. It feels very uninspiring, really hope it changes soon.

It is really slow, I'm looking to buy and there's barely anything coming on the market. I'm hoping things will pick up after the election..

Sold my flat a few weeks ago, had 10-15 viewings, 4 offers in just over a week and several similar flats that had been on the market for a while sold shortly after.

Selling chain free helped but we also all accepted that we’re not going to get more than 2016 prices.

Latest House Price Index as promised to @BrownFlowerCarpet

Average UK house price annual inflation was 1.1% (provisional estimate) in the 12 months to April 2024, up from an increase of 0.9% (revised estimate) in the 12 months to March 2024.

The average UK house price was £281,000 in April 2024 (provisional estimate), which is £3,000 higher than 12 months ago. Average house prices in the 12 months to April 2024 increased in England to £298,000 (0.6%), increased in Wales to £208,000 (0.4%) and increased in Scotland to £190,000 (4.5%). The average house price increased in the year to Q1 (Jan to Mar) 2024 to £178,000 in Northern Ireland (4.0%).

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average UK house prices increased by 0.3% between March 2024 and April 2024, compared with a increase of 0.1% during the same period 12 months ago.

Of English regions, annual house price inflation was highest in the North West, where prices increased by 3.8% in the 12 months to April 2024. London was the English region with the lowest annual inflation, where prices decreased by 3.9% in the 12 months to April 2024.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-house-price-index-for-april-2024/uk-house-price-index-summary-april-2024#economic-statement

It's funny, in my area it's the other way round. A good house towards the bottom end of the market will fly off the shelves but the bigger and more expensive houses are just stuck. It's interesting though because the people that will fight to get the good houses, won't compromise and just buy something in the wrong bit of town or the wrong style if they miss out, they'll just carry on patiently waiting for the next good one to come up. I think buyers don't have a fear that prices are rising or mortgages rising at the moment and so there's no panic-buying.

We’re in the same position. Am trying really hard not to feel pressured into buying something that’s wrong. Not sure if being overly picky/ unrealistic or if there is just very little coming on. But it’s too big of a risk to buy something that’s wrong…

anyone else been in this position previously? Has anyone accepted an offer and then not moved as they haven’t found anywhere?

The house I’m buying was on the market for a month before I offered. Accepted at 8% below asking. Bank has down-valued by 60k. It’s a very unique property in a an area where character properties are selling quickly.

They are selling quickly around here (East London) but I haven't seen the prices come through yet for the ones on my road, so I don't know if people are getting the asking price.

So we were lucky enough to receive an offer however it's 10k less than what we'd like... tried to negotiate but potential buyer is staying firm. I guess I'll have to see what we could borrow from the bank if we accepted this offer. We also haven't found anything we like either - I'm really hoping everyone starts to put up their houses after the election!

10k under what you wanted isn’t bad in this market and having a buyer would obviously put you in a strong position to negotiate a discount on your onward purchase.

Having said that, you haven’t been on the market for long & don’t have to accept it immediately if you have any other viewings lined up over the next week.

Yes, I think people are hanging on in the hope of an interest rate cut.