Is the market really on a downturn!?

[PoppyP19]

I keep hearing that the market is on a downturn and everyone should be cautious about the property they are purchasing at the moment but I’m struggling to find anything!

Properties in the area I am looking at are snapped up within days. I am viewing a property on the weekend which was booked 3 weeks ago, EA too busy to give us a viewing before now!

What is everyone else’s experience?

We have struggled so much trying to find something that we haven’t put our house on the market yet. Our neighbours sold at first viewing and my cousin has sold their house but still not found a property to move into so all seems a bit of a mess!

I think it’s completely location dependent. In the area we’re looking to buy hardly anything has come up since November and most that have still haven’t sold or are constantly being reduced.

Some areas will of course be different but overall it’s still a difficult market with the economy, interest rates, stamp duty increase etc. I think less properties are coming up and because of that the good ones are getting snapped up quickly.

I think you are right! There seems to be a sweet spot price wise from what I can gather. It’s really frustrating because we desperately want to move this year!

Property was selling very quickly a year or so ago. There's been a definite lack of property on the market since then. There have been 2 houses in our area, both took about a month to sell and one had to reduce their price. A year ago, property would be sold in 3 days. There wouldn't be any chance of booking and waiting for 3 weeks, the new buyers would be organising the moving vans by then! There's only one house available in our neighbourhood now and it's significantly overpriced by a greedy builder so it's been unable to sell.

No downturn near me.

East Anglia

Not by me prices seem to have gone up since last year.

Do you think the lack of property just drives prices up though?

I know our budget has just increased and increased over the last year!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - in the long term, property always increases in value.

In the short term, it might increase, or decrease.

I agree! The value of my house has tripled in a very short space of time. When one set of neighbours sold for double 2 years ago I was shocked, then the other sold in January this year for 3 times what we paid for ours!!!

Some EA won’t even entertain you if your home isn’t on the market

We are south east and I'd say places are sticking, I'm seeing properties that I thought were overpriced staying on some since October 2024 which 3 years ago wasn't happening.

So I think it's all a bit slow out there. I can see way more flats coming on all with ridiculous changes and short leases, thinking maybe the flat market isn't the best.

But new builds and the family home £400+mark are selling quickly.

There is always someone predicting a downturn in house prices. But there is always going to be strong demand and as the old adage goes they aren't making any more land.

This post is getting really dull now. The thread wasn't even directly about house prices.

Only the stuff priced well is getting snapped up here. Otherwise reductions / no sale.

Just watch the weekly UK Property Market Stats Show on YT to get a sense of how the market (overall) is doing. It'll probably be changing quite a bit over the next few months as the stamp duty changes kick in, but no one knows what'll happen.

No downturn near me. The difficulty arises because so few people are selling so when houses do come on, there's a long old list of people who want to buy them.

Well priced property sells quick, badly priced property sits on the market forever... its the same in a high or low market everywhere.

I had an offer in on the day a house went on the market, I went about 5% above asking on a well priced but doer up house and was then gazumped 3 weeks later by someone offering 26.5% over asking (apparently loads offered more after us and created a bidding war).

Another similar but bigger version of the house on another good street came for sale at 73% more (nice house, very good size but needed some work like rewiring) and had a bidding war, we where quickly out priced from the running and it sold within a week.

An identical but full modernized version of the 2nd one with an added loft conversion was listed at the exact same time for over double the price (250% more than the 1st). Its a LOVELY house (not even saying its not worth asking) but hasn't sold as its just priced out of every local persons range (one you pass a certain ceiling you lose most buyers due to affordability).

Then viewed an identical house to the 1st one (exact same size and layout) a few weeks after that but in a less desirable location (and turned out worse condition) that wanted 54.5% more as asking price than the first one. It had loads of viewing of the back of the first one and it too is still sat on the market now getting no new viewings. People where literally laughing while viewing it as it was so overpriced for the condition and location.

The huge reason the later two that didn't sell haven't sold is simply the price (one for being brazenly overpriced and the other for just being above what most can afford). The other two flew off the shelf because they where good value for what they where even though they needed work. Even in a recession or down turn well priced houses will fly off the shelf.

You clearly haven't been to Japan then.

My DD1 and her partner are first time buyers. They are all set mortgage in principle in place. Nothing on the market worth viewing. South East commuting town.

They are hoping Spring weather will encourage new properties onto the market

I want to upsize within the next year. I have a house I need to sell and plan to price it competitively. I’m going to watch and wait for now because there we don’t know the impact of the stamp duty changes yet. I’m upsizing so an overall reduction in house prices would suit me fine. Well priced properties requiring little to no work seem to be snapped up quickly here but there’s also a glut of overpriced homes sitting around for ages. Prices here went up by about 24% since before the pandemic and I am yet to see a considerable price correction.

West midlands here, the lower end of the market is still boyant but as you go up it is visibly slowing. Lots of higher end seem to be selling up (but not selling fast) with some very nice lockdown makeovers.

People have a lot less disposible income now and as it looks very likely taxes are going to rise again next month I can see why people are waiting on buying if the can.

Lots of ex-rental houses coming onto the market in my area. Bargains galore for FTBs, people who are happy to take on a project to change back to a single household dwelling or upgrading from a flat.

Very interesting to hear everyone’s stories and how the market fluctuates throughout the UK.

I am in Wales so stamp duty isn’t really an issue (LTT already went up in December). Hoping to put the house on the market next month 🤞🏻 If we can’t buy the next stage up for a doer upper, we will probably just buy something at auction and just keep looking.

There is definitely a gap in terms of what is coming on the market (or staying on). Anything around 500-600k or less is going quickly, there are some houses that are £1.5million plus that no local would afford so I assume will be on the market for years if nobody from London swoops in!

Lots of landlords selling up around here too (since about October last year) but they are unfortunately useless for FTB as they all have tenants in situ which is a nightmare.

Not in my area. Two houses on my street sold this week after only being on the market 2 weeks. It's a desirable area though.

It depends on your area, the local supply and price bracket.
Certainly, in the South of England and some other areas, the peak of prices was mid-end 2022 and prices are down since then, certainly at the higher end. In many areas, people are struggling to sell with lots of reductions on Rightmove, including new builds.
In my area, there has been a large increase in properties coming to market in the last 2 weeks, as is common at the start of Spring. Hopefully this will be the case in your area too. It sounds as if your area of Wales is moving quickly, perhaps because of a lack of supply or because prices are more affordable compared to incomes.

Overall, with the economy deteriorating, a turn down in prices becomes more likely.

Exactly. People always seem to assume that whatever happened within their own frame of reference will continue forever. That's unlikely to be the case in reality!