Is the market dead everywhere?

[Lemurabbit]

My house has been on the market for 4 months with not that many viewings (although they all gave good feedback) and I’ve been watching lots of other local similar properties which also aren’t selling. Also all the onward purchase options don’t seem to be selling either. It’s getting so frustrating as I don’t know what else we can do but wait. Reduced the price a month ago and now it’s the cheapest 4 bed in the area, no work needed (everything done in the last 1-2 years) - all other local 4 beds for similar price or cheaper need work or don’t have parking.

Agent says not much is selling. I’m feeling a bit desperate!

My friend who lived a few doors down sold within a week about 5 months ago. Another house on my road came up for sale and sold on the first day. It’s price plus area and then down to the actual roads.

Yep same here. Not much on market, but when decent sensibly priced houses come to market, they fly off the shelves within days.

The ones that stay on the market for months are the ones with very over optimistic prices.

Price and location always matter obviously. The point is whether it’s generally a buyers or seller’s market - and it is undoubtedly a buyers market.

I’m in the same boat OP. No negative feedback. Interested parties can’t sell theirs so can’t really offer. Those who do manage to sell have tons of choice. The upside is that the properties we’re theoretically interested in are still for sale even though they’re sensibly priced in my opinion! Another upside is that my DCs and stepDCs have a slightly better chance of getting on the ladder now because the “starter homes” here are selling for £220k not £250k as they were at Christmas.

Definitely area dependant. Houses in our street are selling almost straightaway avd we even met a woman at the weekend who was walking around asking if anyone knows of any houses about to come onto the market.

Have no idea why though, we don’t even life in the nicest part of town.

I don't think the market is dead everywhere but it is definitely falling in many, probably most areas.
Even Rightmove announced a large monthly fall in asking prices the other day and they have urged sellers to price realistically several times. That's Rightmove saying that, who have every reason to send out very bullish messaging about the housing market.
It sounds as if prices in your area are falling @Lemurabbit if nothing is selling. Forget about the asking prices of all the houses that are not selling and price it at a price where people are bound to be interested, then negotiate hard on your onward purchase. That's if you actually want to sell it, of course.

Some areas will always be more buoyant than others
but I was talking to a mortgage advisor that works for one of the major banks and said it was very quiet all round and a lot of staff are worried

Very slow here BUT the houses seem ridiculously overpriced by estate agents. 3 beds on for £700k when we know they would have been £300k pre COVID. I don't think the market has moved that much so I think it's an odd vicious cycle that's occurred in the few streets near us where one overpriced house has caused other EAs to then say "well that was on for x so yours is also worth x" when it's really really not.

To be honest, that's a lame response from your EA. Ask them to share their TwentyEA Insights stats with you (see the final section of any UK Property Market Stats show on YT). See how they compare to their competitors.

Plenty of business is being done and a good EA would be able to get yours away too.

Not scientific, but have you gone on RM for your area to see what properties have recently SSTC, what their prices were and which EA shifted them?

Yes this is my thinking. Based on what ours is down to, and assuming we end up even lower, the onward purchase options look about 100k overpriced. Based on sold prices in 2023/2024 similar houses (some smaller/some without a brand new kitchen etc) sold for around 350k but we are on for 290k.

It’s stagnant where I am.

Yes I’ve been looking on RM. Our agent does seem to be selling the most in our price bracket compared to other agents who have not much selling.

I’ve compared to our village and the wider area. In our large village only two houses have sold since March/Feb. One was with a different agent but a 2 bed semi with tiny gardens and allocated parking not near the house which sold within a month advertised at 250k. Ours is only 40k more and much bigger and detached. The other was with our agent and sold within two weeks. It’s a similar house to ours but needs quite a bit of work (very old kitchen/decor). It also doesn’t have a driveway so on-road parking only. It was up for 15k less than ours.

You mention that there are other similar properties priced cheaper that need work. Are these being snapped up or also sticking on the market? If they are also sticking it's simply that you haven't yet hit the right asking price point. Things are going backwards pretty quickly in my area (south coast). Agents seem to be slow to accept this though and lots of properties are still being listed too high and just sitting there being gradually reduced. The problem has shifted a lot here because there is so much more coming to market than in previous years.

No, but it’s not as buoyant as it was a year or even six months ago. Someone has mentioned the stamp duty deadline, also around that time the N.I increase for employers came in, which is one reason why the economy is slowing and of course that impacts on house buying and selling. I work in a residential road in a covetable part of a north west city where 4 bed Victorian houses used to be quick to sell but there’s three houses for sale now on the road and have been for months. They’re selling at the right price - averaging £460k - but nobody’s buying.

I note there are a huge number of flats for sale and have been for many months, often heavily reduced. I think people are more aware now of the dreaded service charges that you have to pay when you buy a flat.

Market is dead in my area, same houses been on for months. Mine is 4 bed, good condition, nice village, off road parking. viewings have ground to a complete halt. I've dropped price once but can't afford to keep doing as will make onward purchases impossible. I've got over a year and a half left on my mortgage fixed rate so am trying to relax and trust it to fate. I've stopped viewing properties until I'm in a proceedable position as don't want to get my heart set on somewhere I can't offer on. It's horrible being stuck in limbo.

In my area it seems to be dependant on the property. Quirky houses, older homes, probate sales and larger unique homes with gardens/annexe/outbuildings etc seem to sell really quickly but we are in an area that has boomed in terms of housing estates and new builds.

People trying to sell on new builds within 10 years of construction in the £300 - £600k bracket are really struggling to shift them because there is a constant influx of brand new ones going on the market with attractive offers from developers.

Properties in general do seem to be lingering in the market for longer at the moment though.

My friend has just sold hers for full asking price in less than a week. Nicer area in Nottingham. However, other properties have been hanging around for months 🤷‍♀️

Just a request ...... when stating "in my area" would people be happy to just add the first 2 characters of their postcode so that we can have some idea where you're talking about - without outing yourself in any way.

In my EX area sensibly priced properties are going SSTC reasonably quickly. in my town, looking on RM, the last property marked as SSTC was added (or price reduced) 16 days ago i.e. nothing added in the last 16 days has been marked as sold.

@XVGN thanks! The whole thread means little if no-one says where they are. Not expecting an address but wonder whether everyone is in London.

Leeds - houses selling fast. DS just got an offer accepted after missing out on several houses that sold within a weekend of going up.

I'm in west Cornwall

Market is still relatively brisk with no fall in house prices where I am (Manchester). Everyone I know down south seems to have a completely different market though.

Prices have risen massively here over the last few years so some sellers have got a bit giddy - our neighbour listed last year and had to bring their price down 3 times, eventually accepting below asking. If they’d got their initial price, it would have been by far the most expensive house to sell on our road. The previous highest were all semis with a good sized garden and there’s was a mid terrace with a yard that needed to work, the estate agent must have taken leave of their senses when they did that valuation!

Just absolutely nothing coming to the market here. Our mortgage is up for renewal in a few months so unsure about whether to stay and do a bit of work or move somewhere with a bigger garden/better parking. Our search area is limited by needing to be in walking distance of school but that should still be a fair no. of 3/4 beds.

Anything that is half decent (maybe one a month?) is going under offer within a couple of days and the couple that are hanging around are just stupidly priced or obvious issues.

We did manage to get a viewing on what could have been our dream house by saying we'd get ours on the market that day but were outbid by a cash buyer when we were already 10% over asking. So feel there's no point putting ours on if there's nowhere to move to 🙃

WS postcode.

Agreed.

In my part of Glasgow the market is really hot. From the chat on local Facebook groups, 20% over home report (market value that a mortgage would be based on) is a realistic amount to offer to secure a property, and the couple of people I know who have bought or sold have said the same.

It might be worth having a look what 3 beds in the area go for. You might be similar floor space to some 3 beds.