Why is nobody selling their houses?

[Bakewellbits]

Is it just me and my area, or are other people struggling to find a new place because there are very few houses going on the market at the moment?

We had a house purchase fall through in October and we've been looking for something else ever since, but nothing much seems to be coming on the market? We have what I thought was a decent 700k budget for a small 3 bed semi in north east Surrey - looking at Tadworth, Banstead, Coulsdon areas. Our number 1 requirement is no main road noise - we want quiet, preferably a cul-de-sac, surrounded by some greenery. Eg. We like parts of Banstead/Chipstead that feel semi-rural, so quiet and good for dog walks and cycling.

I don't think it's a case of budget and needing to adjust our expectations because a slightly higher budget takes us into 4 bed territory, and we don't need a 4 bed. It's just us and our dog, and potentially 1 future child.

@XVGNbut equally, why should I have to pay more because my house is worth more? I don’t use any more services than someone in a home worth less than mine. So why would I need to be put into financial difficulty to pay when that’s the case? Especially when I’ve already paid my SD just this year?

Stamp duty goes up in April so a lot of people will have tried to sell before this goes through. So might have put it on winter when usually they would have waited until Spring.

@JaninaDuszejko also made a good point about IHT. On reflection, I'd be open to scrapping that too and rolling it into the HVT plus fairer taxes on capital gains. It's madness that work gets taxed 50%+ whereas investment gains are taxed at 28% (? when not shielded in ISA's, SIPPs and PB's, etc).

There used to be advert about Tax shouldn't be Taxing. Think about it. The whole structure of our taxation system is a nonsense and ripe for overhaul.

The UK's tax system is a nightmare, and overdue for simplification.

All good questions. It's because, on paper, you are wealthier. You'll both pay the same PT reflective of both enjoying an equal amount of services.

The government would have to set the rate of HVT. Perhaps your PT+HVT will still be less than the Council Tax you pay today.

The 5 year notice period would allow some grace for people who'd just paid SDLT, and allow you to do the sums to see if you really would be worse off. If so, you have a choice to pay it or move. Think about it this way. There will be many people who paid full SDLT just before the SDLT holiday and reduction kicked in. They could have complained as much as you.

I could envisage a scheme whereby my widow in her 4 bed family home may be allowed to have her HVT applied as a charge against her home so that it doesn't become payable (+CPI) until after her death. That feels reasonable.

Completely unrelated to the thread - but on the subject of radical tax proposals. This would be radical. Tax ultra-processed food at 100% or 200% - all the drinks, packets, ready meals, flavoured yogurts, sugary cereal, take-aways, etc. Anything with a label! People who knowingly risk the health impacts of this stuff (and I do eat some myself!) should contribute to the impact on their health, like smokers and, to a lesser extent, drinkers do.

I'd use half the tax received to fund the NHS and the other half to subsidise the cost of whole foods by 50%. It'll be a win-win for the country.

Wow, @Bakewellbits I bet if they're still for sale in months' time they would bite your hand off for that offer!

Any houses by me that quote 'offers in excess of' get sold for less than the for sale price. I don't know why they even do that, 'in excess of' is not something I'd be happy with when I'm the seller.

We moved at the end of last year. Our house sold within a short time of listing. Three weeks later, next door but one neighbour listed their house- basically the same house, bought for the same price as ours originally. It’s still for sale and has been reduced once, but not since November. We sold ours for 1% under asking.

It seems stagnant in terms of selling, but people are still listing.

@XVGN It's because, on paper, you are wealthier
I am a young widow with DC, I still have a mortgage but now, with one income, am struggling financially. I still have DC at home so couldn’t even downsize to a cheaper property. I don’t feel it’s reasonable at all to have a charge against my home!

Round where I am it's just the same old story of houses sitting on the market 15% overvalued and nothing selling. The number of unsold stock on Rightmove goes up about 15 houses a week (net) in my search area.

Panicking in case we do actually sell quickly, we’ll be stuck.

We’re working with a much smaller budget but facing that same thought: Can’t view anywhere as we haven’t put ours on the market (fair enough) but based on what’s out there (and we’ve been looking around 8months!) we can’t put ours on the market as there wouldn’t be anything to move on to.

As some other posters have said, lots of houses have come on in the last 3 weeks in my area but they tend to be overpriced, some extremely so, often the larger homes and the properties needing lots of work. Some of these have been on and off the market for 3 years or more. No, changing agents and reducing slowly by 5% won't cut it when the house started off 20 or 30% overpriced.
I do have relatives looking for something in a different area and they have complained that there isn't much on the market and what is there is overpriced, in poor condition and not selling. I think more will definitely come to market overall in Spring and Summer as this always happens.
I do think that SDLT is an awful tax and certainly serves to stop many people from moving, particularly the older, downsizers and also in expensive parts, of which Surrey is obviously one.

Totally agree with @ChevronShoes and @XVGN. SDLT needs to be scrapped altogether and replaced with a tax on the property proportional to value. @XVGN, it's actually more likely to be the case that someone living in a London property worth several million would be paying the same or less than someone living in a property worth a fraction of the value in the regions. I don't agree with a PT type scheme personally, as it punishes those with children, who should be supported, and those who need to live frugally (multi generational households). If the older single person or couple want to continue to live in the large home, they should pay the same tax as the family imo. I think it's going to become more and more of a privilege to live alone.

I agree but it will never happen. The massive corporations run the country nowadays and would obviously lobby against it successfully.

You may have missed my other reply where I indicated that taxes on workers were too high. It's not reasonable for workers to have to pay so much more than non-workers doing nothing to get their capital gains (I'm one of the latter). The taxes that I am proposing would be far fairer than what we have today so people such as yourself shouldn't be too fearful. If you're having to pay more then it's because you are in the richer half of society.

Listen. How is it fair that I could retire at 50 and pay a tiny amount of income tax on my pension - and no NI. It's crazy. Not only that, but I got to take out 25% of my pension tax free and put it in ISA's and PB;s to avoid paying tax on that too. I'm not in the top 5% so you can only imagine how much like bandits they are making out.

I was thinking the same when I made an offer 10% lower than the asking price but the house is sold not sure at what price though. And I am seeing that even not so great ones are also being sold within no time. I am baffled as to what I should offer or if I should wait.

600k would probably be closer to the right price now.
Some sellers are delusional and respond in a childish way to offers below asking price. They may regret not taking your very good offer.

The resistance is because it affects the affordability of moving.

@farmlife2 but that's my point, I don't understand why it's unaffordable to downsize for many if you have made hundreds of thousands of equity.

Maybe we haven't? Or we're not mortgage free so the gap between buying and selling is less easy to take?

I'm in a position where I could downsize in different circumstances. When I look at suitable houses (because I'm looking for a move that will last till we die, so suitable for low mobility), they aren't that much cheaper than what we have. So it doesn't make sense to make the move at this time. If that leaves me rattling around in a six bedroom home for a number of years when a family could enjoy it, so be it.

I'm still pretty young for downsizing but in different circumstances to what I have, would want to be downsize at this point. I do still need the space for this moment though, as I still need a family home for the people here.

A lot of people plant to list over Easter holidays so things may pick up shortly. Market is slower at the moment as people wanted to get through before stamp duty rise

It's not that it's unaffordable as such, just that some people resent wasting money on tax and don't actually need to move so they choose not to. What not infrequently happens as a result of this though, is that an elderly person or couple suddenly hit a crisis because they have chosen to remain in unsuitable accommodation which they quite often either can't afford to maintain or don't have the physical or mental ability to maintain. Yes, most of these people have a lot of equity, likely no mortgage at all but the saving, depending on their wishes for their next home, may not result in a massive release of funds. We don't have a housing shortage in the UK but we do have a shortage of the right types of homes in the right places.

I think that's likely too.

Buying a house in so exhausting and expensive many of us would rather stay where we are.

For us we do have a mortgage, so that does make a difference when considering downsizing. When we look at what we'd downsize to (nothing fancy) - tidy place with three bedrooms, less land than we have now, can age in place eventually - the maths doesn't work out that it's worth it. So we might as well stick around until we are mortgage free and don't have to take care that we at least break even in a move.

Since moving isn't an option for the above reasons, and I'm still early 50s, so hopefully mobile for a good while yet, I've got chickens and put in a big garden and got a couple of pet sheep instead. Now I don't want to move because of what I've set up, so won't be on the market for ages.

(That said, due to current circumstances, moving isn't on the cards anyway as I need the space regardless. We were looking at one point whether it was viable though.)