Is the market really THAT bad?

[AlexisP90]

House has been on the market 1 week. One viewing confirmed but cancelled a few days later.

Our neighbour is also selling and has just reduced his price to massively under market rate. We cannot reduce and to be honest would not sell for what she's put her on for even if we could.

They are mortgage free, retired and downsizing so doesn't matter to them to lose a bit.

This has screwed us over though. EA has said the reason they cancelled was to view neighbours instead. Fair. Completely fair. I would too! I have just lost all hope though.

Our house is similar size but better condition. Difference is £20k so not small change. Not sure what to do. We have no house secured so have time.

Tempted to remove it from the market until they sell. I think its massively hurting us.

WWYD

It was on the market for much more originally. Like wayyy more. They slashed the price dramatically after a few weeks because they are desperate to sell. They slashed it again £20k under ours recently. They have had many viewings but feedback hasn't been great because of the condition.

We will see anyway. I think ours is on for a bargain personally as it is but maybe I'm bias. We went under what the agent suggested even.

If it doesn't sell we will take it off and try again when things pick up anyway.

Thanks for all your advice guys anyway. Price may he an issue but time will tell.

Post a link OP and the the hive mind will tell you if its overpriced or not.

If you haven't had viewings, it's the price....always the price. I sold my house twice on first viewings last year, when the market was just about as difficult as it could be.
The first time it fell through as the chain broke further down. When we remarketed, it sold straight away again.

Top tips are; make sure it's immaculately tidy inside
Make sure each room has a clear purpose

But after that it is always the price. If you're not getting viewings the first few days, you've priced it too high to be attractive.

Serious house hunters have alerts set up on their phone and if anything suitable comes on they're straight on the phone to the agent.

The longer it takes to get an offer, the less likely it will be near asking price, as people will just assume it's not worth that if no-one else will pay it.

You'll end up dropping the price anyway, so do it sooner rather than later.

We took a lower price than we originally hoped for but were then able to negotiate £30,000 off the house we bought because the market was just as tough for our sellers.

My friend also had eight viewings last weekend on her house, two days after it went on sale and two offers, both for over asking.

There is a shortage of housing in this country so a house will always sell - at the right price. If you can't afford to sell it at that price then the best thing to do is wait.

I've bought and sold since the 1980s and the market is pretty bad at the moment.
We took our house off the market late last year hoping things would pick up this summer. Once we reduced the price we had a flurry of serious buyers resulting in a sale and this has been the case with other sellers in our village where usually properties sell as soon as they hit the market. People are wary of cost of improvements needed at the moment so this will affect your neighbours sale in favour of yours if you price sensibly.
Things may or may not pick up in the near future. Property sales go in cycles but unless you are in a hurry or can negotiate a good onward purchase, now is not the best time to sell.

I would say that the market is falling slowly-stagnant in most areas but it varies considerably depending on the exact area, type of house and price category.

I've definitely noticed that houses that need significant work are not selling since 2023 unless the price is dropped v significantly to take account of the much higher costs of work. This appears to apply to your neighbour's house from the feedback they've received. I doubt they are now marketing it for massively under market rate, just that it is worth less than it might have been in 21/22.

A house that is correctly priced for the market usually has multiple viewings in the first 2 weeks and then they tend to reduce after that if it hasn't sold. It would therefore concern me that you haven't had any viewings as it does suggest that the price is too high for your market. Equally, it is very early days so I wouldn't lose hope. If you can't afford to sell for a lower price, I would probably market it for around 6 weeks now and see what happens. If no offer, I would then remove it until early in 2025 and hope that the neighbour's house had sold by then.

Are you on with an actual high street type estate agent or one of the online agencies like Purple Bricks?

My experience of the online agencies is that they're absolute rubbish, really difficult to make a viewing appointment with and have no local knowledge.

We are with a high street agent who is confident we can get the price listed but who knows.

Not in a position to drop the price so we will leave it on for a bit and if not take it off until next year.

I would post a link but my partner doesn't want me to for whatever reason.

Thanks all for the advice.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/sep/30/number-of-uk-estate-agents-going-bust-rises-almost-a-third-in-one-year

I don’t blame your partner… you get some harsh comments when people post links & a lot of ridiculous comments (a few potentially useful ones too).

If you listed at under the EA valuation then hopefully you will get an offer in the next few weeks. If not you have a plan which is to take it off the market for a few months and retry next year.

Just to add @AlexisP90 that some people would not even consider a house that needed lots of work doing to it like your neighbours, and I’m one of them. I would rather pay a bit more than have to cope with the stress and unknown costs of refurbishment. So your house will be more attractive to some buyers even at a higher price than your neighbours.

Depends on the area and type of house I think.

Someone I know put their house on a couple of weeks ago and had 14 viewings booked within hours, sold for asking price.

Unless you’ve had work done recently yourself, my guess would be that the 15k you think needs spending on your neighbour’s house is way short of the mark, and viewers will know that. So if yours needs nothing significant doing, there’s a very clear differential there. Fingers crossed things pick up after the budget.

I agree - 15k sounds a very low estimate which could easily be higher.

Thanks all.

We have had 2 viewings and really positive feedback. One very near offer but they went with a similar house closer to the school. Absolutely fair.

Speaking to the estate agent, they don't have concerns about the price right now. She said the market is busy just there are a lot of houses on around our price point at the moment so a lot of choice! Their advice is we wait.

The offer we nearly got had viewed next door and ours and said the difference in state and condition was significant and they personally very nearly put an offer on ours but wouldn't have even considered the other one. Makes me feel a little better.

So, for now, we wait. We aren't in an immediate rush and I could do without the stress before Christmas anyway so think ill take the advice from PPs above about potentially relisting in the new year if nothing by end of Nov.

Market here, NW coast, was healthy: until we put our place on the market 3 months ago!

Just 5 viewings (one, a second) but no offer yet. We’ve had to reduce our price too. Really need to move, already have the flat we’re moving too and disabled husband is really beginning to struggle with the stairs.

I think we may well have to reduce again. Neighbours probably won’t be happy but at this stage, we have to put our needs first.

Which? has some good data on market trends What's happening to house prices? - Which? News. It does say mortgage rates are still putting a dampener
on the market

Sorry to hear that OP 😞 worse when you have another place sorted.

Luckily we have yet to find somewhere so not in a rush.

Do what you need to and can afford to. Neighbours will have to be unhappy. Your family comes first. It is what it is

Sounds a bit more positive @AlexisP90. I hope you get an offer soon.

@MrsSkylerWhite sorry to hear that your DH is struggling. Don't worry about your neighbours; they shouldn't influence your decision one way or the other. Hope you have some more interest soon.

Just ignore neighbours, none of their business how much you sell a house for.

Same
Were in a desirable village, with outstanding schools and a local scene, with houses that used to sell up very quickly. However, over the last year nothing is selling, there are great houses on there that have been reduced and reduced and still not sold.

It's a bit of a cop out sometimes when people say 'it's the price'.

Ours is on -3bed end terrace, needs some work but big plot of land and right in catchment. A year ago similar houses were selling for 20k more. Ours is up for a reasonable price and tons of views but no offers! Frustrating

Thank you, @BubblyTime @rainingsnoring and @AlexisP90 .

I know you’re all right but still feel bad. We’ve been here for 15 years now and they’re all good people. But yes, I need to put my husband first.

I agree with the others @MrsSkylerWhite

You've had your house on the market for 3 months, that's a decent amount of time to test the market.

We're starting to move into a time of year where it becomes a bit harder to sell so I think the logical thing to do in your situation is to reduce it again (preferably down to the next Rightmove band if you can) to stimulate new interest and get the house sold. I understand you feel bad for your neighbours but you probably have a greater need to sell quickly than they do.

Think about it logically.

If you are getting "tons of viewings" but no offers what the world is telling you is that your house for some reason is misrepresented, either by design or by accident.

People are seeing it on RM or whatever portal it is on and thinking "this is a house that I think I would like to live in at a price I am willing to pay" but when they turn up for some reason they are finding something they don't like.

This is where your agent earns their money. They should be getting tons of feedback from the tons of viewers, finding out why they do not want to proceed and finding a pattern. And then you should be making adjustments to accommodate that information, either in the price, or the way the house is represented on the portal.

At least it will save you spending whole weekends with tons of people tramping through your place.

I do agree with that.

We had loads of viewings on my Dads flat the first few weeks it was listed due to the great location but no offers. That did tell us something.

His flat needed lots of work to be spent on it and people don’t like that with the high cost of materials etc. Refurbishing properties is less popular now than it used to be.

We reduced the price by 5% and when that wasn’t enough, another 5% to get it sold. We got honest feedback from our EA ( less honest in their valuation but ok) that buyers were discouraged by all the work needed, which was understandable.

The loads of viewings but no offer = too expensive equation isn't always correct. We've had and loads of viewings and rubbish offers. Until last weekend where we had 3 viewings and 3 decent offers. We just had to wait for the right people to come along. Obviously not always going to be the case.