No viewings

[Ellena646]

Hi, we have been on the market for four weeks and not had one viewing. The agent just keeps repeating "It's August, very quiet" on a loop, although we are now in September. Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same thing. Not sure if it's the agent, the market, the price... Never been on the market and had zero viewings in the first month before...

I don't really take a few anecdotals as evidence of what is happening in the wider country as regards the rental or house sales market.

I'm only really interested in macro stats in regards to assessing the current state of the market as a whole.

Prices seem to be increasing slightly at the moment, but off very thin volumes, in fact recently the number of house sales has been very low. I suspect there has been a bit of a bounce because of the slight decrease in base rate increasing confidence, plus the government pumping money into the economy in terms of pay rises. But this bounce in no way compensates for inflation over the same time period. And to me the thin volumes are reflective of the relative unaffordability probably more so than the negligible price increases.

Here is another fun anecdotal if that is what you are into.

The last house I bought was a new build at 161K in 2004. In 2024 it was worth about 210K. Bank of England inflation calculator says it should be worth 282K now if it had kept up with inflation over the same time period. Add in maintenance and mortgage interest payments and the equation looks even worse.

There are areas of the UK where prices have gone up hugely, in particular the south east. But there are other areas where property has stagnated or even decreased in price.

You can say things about the UK market in general according to macro statistics, but local markets can vary wildly.

My only advice to people re house purchasing is think carefully about the purchase which is likely to be one of the most expensive of your life. Don't just listen to the property rampers and estate agents, unrepresentative anecdotes and thoughtless statements like "house prices only go up", "you can't go wrong with bricks and mortar" and "renting is dead money". There is a lot more to the housing market than this.

@Susanap it really isn't as simple as that- many people would buy but aren't able to due to multiples, can't just move to a 'cheap area' or don't want to because of other family commitments or like us started earning the levels to buy somewhere decent at a point they can't get a mortgage over a reasonable period.

GasPanic quite:
I don't really take a few anecdotals as evidence of what is happening in the wider country as regards the rental or house sales market.
I'm only really interested in macro stats in regards to assessing the current state of the market as a whole.

There are more than just ‘a few’ anecdotals as you call them!

I see you are avoiding commenting on the actual mumsnet post I added. It’s not what I’m ‘into’ per se but more about trying to give you hard evidence of what is happening on the ground regardless of stats, but here are some stats if that’s your thing:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/privaterentandhousepricesuk/september2024

And of course the hard eviidence post that everyone seems to be avoiding:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5130373-is-this-what-the-rental-market-is-like-now?page=1

No one has given any specific advice about taking one route or the other.

Several posters have pointed out that there is more than one choice and that things are not as black and white as you suggest. None of the choices are great nowadays if you are a FTB, unless you are fortunate enough to have a large bank of mum and dad paying for your home. 100% mortgages are a terrible idea imo, and were one of the factors that led to the GFC (people taking on far too much debt).

rainingsnoring quote: ‘ No one has given any specific advice about taking one route or the other’

Huh?! So what has everyone been debating about for the past 2 days?! This whole discussion has been about how posters believe renting is a better route than buying!

rainingsnoring quote: ‘ (page 14 of this discussion)
‘If you take out a mortgage, it definitely isn't an end to your financial obligation; it's just the start of a new one. If, on the other hand, you are able to rent cheaply and save enough to become a cash buyer, it is indeed the end of that financial obligation.’

As per the above quote you made, how do
expect people to rent for cheap after reading my link below? Or have you conveniently ignored it rainingsnoring ?!

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5130373-is-this-what-the-rental-market-is-like-now?page=1

Back to actual selling. We’ve now had 3 viewings and no real feedback. Agent said they would follow up and get back to us. As the market is so quiet, I was kind of expecting agents to be following up all viewings quickly and coming back to us with specific feedback, if they can. I appreciate some viewers may not return the agents calls or whatever, but it would be helpful to know what the general vibe is.

rainingsnoring , GasPanic , BubblyTime

Another example of how volatile the rental market is right now:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/5182468-help-how-much-notice-should-be-given-of-intend-to-sell-with-tenants-in-situ?reply=138860525

I don't know why you keep arguing with everyone @Susanap . Circumstances vary and you aren't going to change anyone else's mind.
The rental market in the UK is generally pretty terrible but, as has been explained several times, some can rent more cheaply than buy, some share and save, some rent cheaply from family, etc. The rental market in the UK is generally insecure and expensive relative to salaries. However, buying also has significant risks, which shouldn't be played down either. Neither is ideal. It's not a black and white situation.

rainingsnoring

It’s called freedom of speech and debating.

rainingsnoring Quote:
’Circumstances vary and you aren't going to change anyone else's mind.’

And neither are you.

rainingsnoring
Funny how you are quick to insult me and answer irrelevant posts but choose to ignore ones that prove your theories are wrong and do not align with your views or agenda.

Oh, and trying to silence me by calling me argumentative is not going to work.
I’m not going anywhere 😉

Good for you @Susanap

To draw someone into a debate & then accuse them of being argumentative when they give their point of view is not fair

Thank you 😊

We found only a small percentage gave feedback so you maybe haven't had enough viewings yet? It was not even a quarter of our viewings!

And mostly consisted of the downstairs being too small in relation to the upstairs so not a lot we could do about that!

Our agent was pretty good with supplying feedback although not a lot we could do about some of it- room sizes etc which would have been apparent on the floor plan. Have you made it clear to your agent you want to be kept in the loop even if it's just to say they were unable to contact the viewer?

Our agent has been great. He phones right after the viewing to update on how it went! He did say with our current buyer, "they are going to offer, maybe not now but I think they will at some point,' and although I doubted it, they did eventually offer. of the dozen or so houses that we've looked at over the past few weeks, only one agent bothered to contact us afterwards to ask us what we thought. Lazy!

We’ve had calls after the viewing to say it went well but that isn’t feedback from the viewer after they have gone anyway, that’s just their impression at that moment.

Agent has said people aren’t really making offers at the moment, across the board they are finding everyone is cautious. Not sure why people are wasting time doing viewings if they aren’t ready to offer but here we are.

We rarely got feedback and, in the end, got 4 offers.

congratulations on your multiple offers 👏👍
I would take feedback with a pinch of salt even if they give feedback as you never know if they are just being polite or honest.
Hope your sale is going through well 😊

I had 6 viewings before I went under offer and not one of them left feedback even though asked.
I personally only give feedback if I am asked to do so after I have viewed a property.
I do find it a bit rude if people do not give feedback when asked after you have taken the time to get your house ready for a viewing. It’s just basic manners. But that’s just me.

4 viewings now, no feedback after the event. Coming up to week 4 on the market. Have been past the estate agent office 3 times (it’s 10 min walk from our house, we chose them as they are well established in this postcode area). Our house isn’t in any of their window displays and when I used the digital window display to search for it, it didn’t show in the listings under our specific area, had to search for it in the wider town area. Feeling pretty underwhelmed tbh!

Just had feedback from my second viewing - house has been on the market since beginning of June. Feedback again was good, but garden too small, so nothing I can do about that - it's a workers cottage; the original owners didn't garden, they just weaved.

I don't feel that the agent is doing anything proactive at all other than letting it sit on Right Move, so I'm doing as planned and taking it off at the end of October until the spring. I think I'm dealing with both a stalled local market and an agent who is shit, so will have a break from all that and start again in February 2025.

We are only signed up with the agent for 4 weeks which is until the end of this week. May keep it on the market until half term but if not will take it off we had the same plan as you - to try again in the new year. Not much seems to be selling here but lots of things coming on to the market each week. There is nothing available that we be interested in though anyway which is another reason to take ours off the market soon I think.