How long before lowering asking price?

[BunnyWilliams]

Our house has been on the market for 2 weeks at 475k and it has been crickets apart from one booked but then cancelled viewing and one viewing this coming weekend (someone on the agent's books, not someone who found the house organically and he's got reservations about parking as we've only got room for 2 cars rather than 3).

I'm keen to move because we've seen a couple of houses that we really like and I'm worried that if we don't move soon, they'll be gone and I don't like anything else that's out there.

Our house is valued at 460 on Zoopla. One agent said 485, one said 475 and one said 450. I went with the middle agent, mainly because I got a lovely vibe from her and they're the only agents that are open 7 days a week.

I really want to drop the price next week. DH doesn't want to yet.

We'd ideally like to get 460 for the house to fund our onward purchase but could possibly drop to 450 if we absolutely had to.

Do you think that dropping to 'offers over 459,950' is a sensible move? It puts us in the lower price bracket but hopefully someone would offer around the 460 mark. Or do you think we should drop to just 459,950 without the 'offers over' part?

I'm desperate to get more people through the door and I don't know how else to do it!

How much are houses going for near you?

I live in a desirable village in the SE and can get a 3 bed semi in a cul-de-sac with a driveway for the same price as you're asking for. Less living space, yes, but probably just as convenient for the average sized family.

Your house is absolutely beautiful and charming, I love the masonry and woodwork around your property. But... It seems like a lot of money for the North East?

I may be wrong, of course, as I don't know the area. All I know is If I were looking to spend £450k outside of the south east, I'd be looking for a detached property with a sizeable plot and definitely not so close to a road. With young children, that would be a big no.

I agree that there was nothing 'shocking' in the budget re housing, just a confirmation that SDLT will be higher from April, which will tend to have a negative effect on prices, and an increase for BTL/ second home owners.

If the market has ground to a halt where you are/ in S Devon, at least for some houses, it will be because the asking prices are too high for buyers. Affordability has been crushed by various factors, economic factors aren't looking too rosy and sentiment seems lower than it was. There is clearly a much reduced pool of potential buyers now who have high enough salaries, can borrow enough money, can afford these higher rates or are prepared to pay current prices compared to 2021, when everything was flying.
I linked to this on another thread. The owner tracks Land Registry data. These figures were reported in Sept 24 so represent transactions in around Spring 24. He says that detached houses in the South have reduced in the year prior to Spring 24 by around 10% according to the LR data. On the positive side, your area did much better overall. It doesn't represent what is happening right now though but you can definitely track Rightmove ads and speak to local people to figure this out. Perhaps there will be a little Spring bounce. Time will tell! My personal feeling is that a lot more people will list but I could be wrong.
https://x.com/twallin_james/status/1850909642550824964

I would hang in there until at least the end of November. The confirmation that SDLT will be higher from April may trigger buyers to purchase before this takes effect. They still have 5 months which is completely doable so savvy buyers could start looking now. There are some good bargains for sale out there right now as most sellers have already heavily reduced their selling price prior to the pending budget and most will just otherwise remove their house from the market and sell in Spring at a maybe inflated price.

By then the dust would have settled. There aren’t enough houses to go around in the UK. The rental market is just getting worse and unaffordable to most with daily looming evictions and huge waiting lists.
Anyone renting now waiting to buy will not be concerned by the SDLT increase if they miss out on this deadline as this will be a small price to pay as opposed to paying a landlords mortgage indefinitely which is money down the drain and the pending fear of eviction. At least when you buy you have an asset at the end.

The confirmation of VAT on private schools will trigger parents to buy closer to state and grammar schools which will increase house purchase desirability in these locations.

People need a roof over their heads and as long as the rental prices are through the roof with daily evictions and there is a lack of houses to buy there will always be people wanting to move and purchase a home.
Good luck, stay positive and keep us posted. 🤞

We've gone back to the market because our buyer is being a nightmare.

10 days back on and 1 viewing done and 1 booked. Honestly we were on the market 3 months before we got a viewing last time and then 2 at once and 2 offers. It just depends on who is looking in your area at the time. There's barely anything coming to the market in our area.

Yes reducing will make people realise you are motivated but reduce too soon and you've got nothing to pop it to the top of rightmove again in the future. It is a tough game. Good luck.

Ah yes I R.E.M. your other thread due to the living room

Red and green should never be seen

Paint the walls

Agree kitchen looks small - def can't imagine 8 round a table

No bathroom /toilet on 3rd floor

I would be tempted to make the dressing room off bed 2 an en suite

So that upstairs bedrooms have the bathroom below as theirs

We've got a viewing today, so fingers crossed. Apparently they are American and looking to buy here. Agent said they came into the shop and were immediately drawn to ours so fingers crossed. I suspect if anything puts them off when here it will be the road, so we'll see.

He also said that they've had a significant uptick in interest in all houses in the past week after the budget. People are telling them that they want to try and move before the SDLT reset in April.

Our agent keeps telling us our price is right but only offer was £25k less( on market at £325), said we’d accept 310 but no response to that, no other interest at all and our agent seems to have nothing to suggest(we changed agent 6 weeks ago after a similar story with previous one) absolutely no interest in property and no idea what to do, we would take less but there is a limit to how low you can go, we’ve discussed dropping the price but they say no need

@BunnyWilliams that sounds really promising. If they are American, they probably won't know much about the UK property market and will hopefully be particularly charmed by your lovely house. I'd say there's a good chance of an offer.
I'm not surprised that some people have decided to rush to buy now before the SDLT reverts to previous levels. Whether they will succeed is another matter though as it's less than 5 months now. I expect quite a lot of sales will be renegotiated if they don't succeed or will fail and then there will v likely be a big drop off in interest, unless they goose the market again. If I were you, I would give it my best shot now.

@Sadcafe why didn't you accept the offer you had at 300k? Do you think you could go back to those people and accept now? If you've been on for several months and there is now absolutely no interest, it looks as if it is overpriced and your agent is advising you poorly. Lowering the price stimulates interest, as long as the drop puts it at a realistic level for the current market.

Have to agree with @rainingsnoring that if you would accept 310k @Sadcafe maybe you should have accepted 325k to get the deal done? It's all very well your agents saying no need to reduce the price but to be realistic, your property is not selling and you appear to have thoroughly tested the market.

I'm sure properties between 450-500k are affected by the lifetime ISA penalties cap of 450k.
I watch the market like a hawk, anything in that price range seems stuck/reduced especially.
You need a buyer unaffected by it but that cap drags prices down.

Americans love the quintessential English properties! Keeping fingers crossed for you 🤞😊

I agree with your estate agent as there has been a lot more movement this past week for sure. 5 months is very doable if the chain stays proactive.

Online news is starting to sound very promising for the UK housing market and todays further interest rate drop encourages buyers so hopefully you may start to see some movement.

As always, time will tell but online reports are saying forecasters have predicted that the average house price across Britain will be 23.4%, or £84,000, higher in five years! So very promising predictions for sellers like yourself. I do believe by Spring prices may even start to increase and those waiting may face higher house prices and higher stamp duty unfortunately. Great for sellers but not so good for buyers 😏

Here is one of the links:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/house-price-increase-uk-average-b2642089.html

Good luck for your viewing today and hoping this one leads to an offer for you. 👍

The offer of £300k has only been made in the last week, we’ve actually agreed with them at £305k but they haven’t actually sold their property so not really any further forward, we had an offer and well into the process at £345 when we first marketed, but fell through late on, took it off for a spell after that then re marketed,so not sure it’s overpriced as not significantly different to many 4 beds around us, more an issue that people don’t want 6 bed house( extended original 4 bed)