Are houses slow selling at the moment?

[Nextdoor55]

We've got our house on the market & we're finding that it is very slow, no viewings at all - went on market about a month.
We live in the sticks & our property is very particular I think with another house attached to it but I'm wondering, are sales slow at the moment?
Anyone else?

That's great news. Good luck.

It seems to be the price in most cases , sellers and agents can skirt around things and occasionally redecorating a room or two may help
it’s not helped by the constant ramping of the market by Kirstie and Phil and the other tv shows
the agents don’t seem to get that they would earn more from volume rather than highest price

@Feelingstrange2 Interesting about the lack of properties coming to the market in the Gloucester area. I think two things are happening concurrently here - the lack of affordability in the Bristol area forcing people to look further afield and also (whatever the Mumsnet view about Gloucester being a s....hole) there is actually a lot of investment in the city and it is improving. Also the suburbs around it are good, with great primary schools. So taking these things into account, the Gloucester area still looks a bargain (if you're open minded).

My daughter and son-in-law moved into the area and love it. We moved to be nearer to them - albeit about ten miles out and more rural - and love it too.

Good Luck @Nextdoor55. Hope you get some offers from the viewings!

'the agents don’t seem to get that they would earn more from volume rather than highest price'

Agreed. It's very strange.

I'm in same area and absolutely love it too! Been here years now and very happy

I have been trying to sell my flat in Brighton since last year and have dropped price by 20%. I had 1 x buyer who had to pull out as he lost his buyer. I need to move due to health issues. It’s frustrating and my property is now the cheapest when compared to similar and I have spent £100K on improvements so I am losing lots including stamp duty. However, I want to be close to good friend who I know will be a good support as I know I am going to continue to deteriorate. I just have to hope for something positive to happen and to reflect on the past 30 years of buying and selling where I have made lots and always sold super quick.

Have you had any offers via your new estate agent @Nextdoor55? I hope you've had some interest.

@Linzit77 that's a v frustrating situation. I think that flats, especially London flats have fallen quite a lot in value overall in the last few years. You are wise to keep the situation in perspective by reflecting on being able to sell quickly and make lots of money in the past. The current market is not the same at all for most.

Yes! We've SSTC now! And put an offer on a house that's been accepted. I'm just hoping it's a smooth transaction & we're in for Christmas.
We have accepted a lower than we wanted to offer but it's a difficult market isn't it

Congratulations @Nextdoor55. Sensible of you to accept the offer in order to move on with your life rather than having the sale hang over you for ages. All the best for a smooth transaction.

Ohh! And one of the ones I mentioned my son put an offer on had come back to him and agreed his 7% below asking offer (luckily he was on holiday last week so not looking, so hadn't found anywhere else).

It's a difficult market but I think price adjustments aren't unreasonable given the interest rate increases.

The other below asking offer he made a month ago is still for sale. Hopefully they'll get the 270 they want and not regret not accepting his 260 offer.

Just the way the market is atm, but property is selling so don’t give up hope. I have a few friends that have recently become SSTC. Yes they did have to reduce in order to do so, but the market always dictates the price you can achieve for a property. @Nextdoor55 many congratulations

Congratulations @Nextdoor55 and the same to your son @Feelingstrange2

Thanks. Hes spent six months looking so I'm pleased he'd finally found something he loves. He loves it, the layout suits his lifestyle perfectly and he likes the village its in with access to running areas. I'm.pleased he stuck with his final offer and walked away because he did think the marketed price wasn't right for the current market. He doesn't think he's got a bargain at this reduction, he thinks it was overpriced for the current situation because of what he's seen and its been on since May and not yet sold.

Because he has been looking a while he knows the current market quite well and has a good deposit so is prepared to pay a little extra for being able to walk into a refurbished place as most on the market are not....or worse!

We've just replaced a bathroom and that cost £8k. Refurbishments aren't cheap nowadays. And, as he says, there's the hassle factor. For some of us designing and buying a kitchen is exciting. For a 26 year old lad it really isn't!

He sounds like he did a good amount of research so knew what was an appropriate price to pay for a property in the condition he wanted. He did the right thing in sticking to his guns and can feel confident that he didn't overpay - though he didn't get a bargain, as you say, just got it at the right price.

I don't blame him for not wanting the hassle of having to do up a place needing lots of work. My daughter bought a flat needing quite a lot of work - new windows, kitchen, roof! and it's been a lot of stress for her. Worth it to get the flat she wanted but would have bought somewhere needing less work if her budget had stretched to it. Renovations always seem to cost more than people expect too, so I agree it's better to pay a bit extra for a place in good condition.

@twiglets1

The other offer he made needed renovation.

Full kitchen (its 1960s), bathroom (again its 1970s/80s), carpets in the hallway (as a stairlift needs removing and is nailed through the current one), garage roof is leaking - really badly. Electrics look old but hes not an expert so that may turn out to be OK. In all other respects, it was a nice house and he reckons fully done would get £300/£310. They are marketing it at £280 (empty and down over the past 6 months from £310) but he calculated broadly £40k for costs and £10k for the hassle plus stuff he had no doubt missed.

If he is right, there's some basis to them wanting £270k minimum and him wanting £260k, and so it's unlikely there would be an agreement. But it's still on the market another month later.

It always does amaze me when people spend zero money on their property over many years and then when the time comes to sell it, somehow fail to understand why they won't get a high price for it relative to other properties in the area.

Sounds like good news for your son @Feelingstrange2. Very sensible of him to research the market carefully before buying. I have noticed that houses needing lots of work are not selling since 2023 due to the much higher cost of work. Most of these sellers don't seem to realise that they can't not spend anything on a house for 40 years and expect the same or nearly the same amount when they sell, particularly when the cost of everything has doubled. Buyers are not willing to go through the hassle unless the price is attractive.

So whats your advice? Forget about buying? Fight for crumbs in the rental market with ever escalating rents? What should people who are starting out be doing?