House prices

[Pinkflamingo55]

First time buyer here currently looking and checking rightmove every bloody day but the market is terrible at the moment, hardly anything coming on

I keep seeing comments on here saying people are holding off until after the election. Does anyone know (or think) that house prices will increase/reduce after the election?

Obviously I don't want them to increase - appreciate that won't be good for sellers though (both sides of the same coin after all) but I know most people won't sell unless they absolutely have to if that's the case. Catch 22 really.

Your safe to wait, prices won't increase in my opinion. It looks like November is now the earliest we can expect a small drop in interest rates. It's worth considering that a small 0.25% drop at the end of the year also wouldn't be enough to make much of a difference anyway. Prices may soften further.

Prices will always go up long term and it depends what area you are in.

I don't understand how an election will have an effect on putting your house on the market, can anyone enlighten me?

I don't understand how an election will have an effect on putting your house on the market, can anyone enlighten me?

People wait to see if a new Government will suddenly change their finances: a miraculous 2% cut on income tax, a stamp duty holiday - or - in fact make their finances worse: a 2% increase in National Insurance to bail out the failing NHS, for example.

OP, I'm sorry, but I don't think there's anything left in the pot for any Government to start handing out incentives to movers at the moment. I don't think anything will change post election, no matter who wins.

People with good homes will only start moving again once mortgage rates feel a bit more tolerable across the board. Goodness only knows when that's likely to happen now. If I had to put my money on the surest best I would think of, I'd say 2027.

We could get a 0.25% drop in the base rate as early as August - though I agree a fall that size won’t make much difference to house prices.

Overall, listings are high at present but clearly not in your area for the type of property you want.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GQT2UYHWYAAvvv2?format=png&name=medium

I think the Spring rushed died down and then the election has put some people's plans on hold, both buyers and sellers. I don't expect any rapid changes unless the new government suddenly introduce an unexpected policy designed to rocket prices up (see Sunak's SDLT holiday).
The most likely scenario is that there will be less activity for the next few months and then there will probably be more listings from September onwards. Alongside this, I expect the economy to continue to deteriorate and unemployment to rise more towards the end of the year and worsen into 2025. That would have a negative effect on house prices regardless on rates but this may take some time to play out fully.

personally I don't think the election will make a huge difference. The market has been pretty stagnant all year, and was pretty stagnant with a very gentle drift downwards in price in 2023. If a new government brings announcements about stamp duty or other things to incentivise new buyers, or if interest rates start to move one way or the other, we might start to see things change - but as things stand both buyers and sellers are in a bit of a stand-off.

House prices will go up over the long term as they always have done.
they will be more in 2030 than they are in 2025 for example.
When are ready and find a house you like that’s when to move.

It used to be that there were a lot more people looking to move in september after spending the summer holidays wishing they had more room when the children have been home more!
My relative's husband said that realistically, house prices can only go one way and that is up , there are simply not enough being built currently.
Barring any disasters coming along obvs.

'Barring any disasters coming along obvs.'

I would say that the odds of 'disasters' are pretty high!

House prices will only ever go up , it’s a fact of life especially with the number being built or lack of

I don't think there will be a significant change in prices, they'll remain somewhat stagnant.

I was a ftb in 2022 and hardly anything was coming up in our budget despite being willing to live in 6 different towns/villages (one house we liked had had 45 enquiries so we couldn't view!). We eventually managed to buy something, it wasn't what we really wanted and realistically this is probably our forever home now given what interest rates are.

Just keep looking, something will come up.