How's your Boxing Day bounce?

[paddleboardingmum]

I've seen a LOT more listings in my area today. Pretty much all seem on for a lot price wise compared to whats just been selling. Also there are a few from last year which didn't sell but now have come back, at the same price.

Disappointing.

There are a huge number nearish me but not within the 3 mile radius I actually want, only new properties are leasehold flats.

Hilarious is the tiny 75m house on for £400k, was bought for £310k in 2021 with no changes/rooms added. Poor misguided sellers.

That is bonkers isn't it why do people think it warrants an extra 90k. I hope for sellers sakes the market does pick up in January, but near me it will probably be the usual stalemate where nobody wants to pay the prices. I have noticed that a couple of flats the agent has listed the living room as a bedroom, so that the only 'living room' is the kitchen/diner.

Almost nothing around here - just one reduction. I wondered if Rightmove doesn’t really update on a bank holiday but sounds like other areas are seeing new listings. I have about five searches saved for different areas of my city and they’re all unchanged apart from that one reduction!

The post-xmas Rightmove scroll is usually great but it's been disappointing this year. TBF I'm just looking for fun rather than actually moving but most listings are just properties that were listed earlier this year and are being pushed.

I was quite surprised to see 4 pages of new and reduced listings in my area yesterday, compared to just a few properties a day in the weeks previous. None I actually want to buy though.

Chances are it has lost value since then, not gone up!

Not sure anything is going to dramatically change in January, the economy isn"t suddenly going to get better is it? The 400k house probably overpaid in 2021, not sure why they expect a 90k bonus just for holding a poor investment?

There's one like that in the conservation area where we bought in 2024. It was purchased for 310k in 2018, has had absolutely nothing done to it since and it's now on for 410k. It's less than 80sq m, although the floor plan says it's 95sq m.

Eleven properties were listed in my area yesterday, although of those, only two were brand new instructions. The rest were reductions. Like @KeepPumping I can't see things changing/improving any time soon.

Not exactly buzzing. I have 2 to sell. The cottage is going to take an age as it is niche. The modern ex rental has had a viewing booked today. There’s nothing new listed for
me to view yet.

I’m selling due to divorce and starting to panic a bit if I’m honest. Both that I can’t sell and that there’s nothing to buy. Tied to a certain area as 50/50 co-parenting/schools.

I am currently in a chain - so just keeping an eye on the market - just in case it falls through (again). My target area - its just aload of reductions. Any new houses to the market seem to 30K-50K overpriced - not taken into account the selling prices for what has recently sold in the area. They are in for a few wasted months - until they align their pricing to what the market is saying what it should be.

I hope you find @FancyCatSlave I am quite tied to an area too and everything coming on tends to be around 10 percent overpriced and hangs around for a couple of months or more. Nobody is really reducing and nobody is really buying.

Thanks. I’m still living with ex husband as neither can move until we sell and it’s rather awful. Divorce is finalised but we still have to occupy a very small (but lovely) cottage. It’s particularly galling as we just finished renovations and it is my dream home. But I can’t afford to buy him out.

I hope the ex rental sells soon as that is costing me a fortune empty. Then I’ll have just the one chain to contend with.

Here there are just no buyers. Absolutely nothing selling and it’s not price related really, there’s just no-one looking to move yet. The agents have no-one on the books as buyers.

The psychology is interesting, it is like the sellers are completely oblivious to economic trends and the cost of debt rising, or maybe they know something we don"t about their local area?

Why not offer a tenant a discount to live there on the understanding that people might view the property and they may have to be ready to move out quickly?

Don't do this! They will be under no obligation to move out when you want them to and you might end up having to evict them!

Absolutely no chance! I had to get my tenant out to stand absolutely any chance of selling it. With the renter reform changes coming it was imperative to have it vacant.

No-one will touch properties with sitting tenants with a bargepole, lenders won’t lend and solicitors won’t proceed either. With the end of fixed term tenancies and much longer notice periods that’s exactly why I am selling. I want no part of it (the rental didn’t have to be sold as part of divorce but I want the equity out of it to give me a smaller mortgage.

I think it is more a case of "who blinks first". We all know that there is a shortage of reasonably priced properties on the market. The sheer number of properties that have been sitting on the market for months is testament to this, but at the same time there are people in a chain who have to buy having priced their properties reasonably and are now sold stc.

Yes they could always look around for a bargain if they are flexible on location and property type but very few people have this luxury as most of us always have specific criteria when buying property, so either a prospective buyer who could be in a chain or even a first time buyer paying out thousands each month on rent "blinks" first and goes for one of these overpriced properties or a seller decides they really want to sell fast and reduces their asking price.

I am willing to bet that the majority of sold properties over the last several months fall into 1 of these 2 categories.

I don't think the 'Boxing Day Bounce' is a real thing, just a marketing gimmick.
I've seen several reductions in the past couple of days but not many new listings. The number of new listings was very high during Spring and Summer but tailed off a lot in the Autumn, especially in the few weeks before the budget and just a few each week since.
If people are looking and want more choice, Spring is a better time for lots of properties to come to market.

I'm sure your cottage is beautiful.
Nearly everything does come down to price though. People are not 'looking to move' because they can't afford the prices. It's as simple as that. If prices don't come down to meet what most people living and working in the area can afford, the market gets frozen. The same has been happening in the US in a lot of areas; very few sales this and last year.

I think as well as mortgages being that bit higher than they were a few years back, it's also the cost of living crisis and higher taxes. People just can't afford to pay as much now but sellers aren't having it. Not really their fault if the agents are valuing too high. I'm wondering if agents just add on 10% expecting the reduced amount to be offered?

There’s just nothing on the market - if I dropped the price by 50% tomorrow there’s still nothing for me to buy. There’s currently not one single
suitable property to even go and view in the entire county (granted it is a small county!).

So we just need more people to actually list. The agents literally don’t have anyone to market to as no-one buying.

There’s currently a few similar properties to ours that have been on for a year. And it’s the same at double the price and half the price. No sales at all. It’s flatlined completely.

My rental will do better as in a different part of the country and that does have a more active market. Things are selling in about 12 weeks there so I’m optimistic about that selling by Easter. But I could still be living with my ex by next Christmas which is a very depressing prospect. But we need to get back enough to be able to both buy.

We bought for £435k as a bit of a wreck. Replaced the heating, the doors and windows, kitchen, flooring, garden office, redecorated etc. Spent about £80k excluding purchase costs. Prices have risen locally 5% since we bought. We can’t sell for less than £470k which is still a loss as any less we won’t have enough for onward purchase. But we will just have to sit it out. Thatches are always difficult to sell at the best of times. It is a bit sad to have no viewings though, but friends in the next village over haven’t had a viewing in 5 months so I suppose it’s all relative and whilst it is not selling I still get to live in it! As it’s much more beautiful than the shitholes I’ll end up in eventually 😭.

I always think Boxing Day would be a really odd day to list a new property. For one thing the 2025 on the listing will look outdated in just a few days!

Realistically, although a lot of people may browse Rightmove on Boxing Day out of boredom, serious buyers & sellers are far more likely to wait until the New Year & early Spring. I believe in the Spring bounce but not the Boxing Day one.

I think EAs add on 5-10% to try to win the business.

In many cases this overvaluation then gets either reduced after little interest is shown by buyers or negotiated down by a potential buyer.

Exactly. Bills have increased and salaries haven't kept up with the increases, at least not once higher taxes are taken into account. The factor that may be starting to make a difference though is the fact that more people are losing their jobs or are worried about the possibility. As you say, many people can't afford to pay or have got to the point where they are too worried to taken on £££ in debt.
It is also sellers 'fault' in many cases though. If you were selling a car, for example, you would research the current market and prices for your car, not just list it for whatever figure you like and then dig your heels in. It seems odd that, with homes, people seem to take less responsibility despite the price tag usually being much higher. I think it's partly because most older sellers have only ever seen the market go up and work in their favour so they assume that it will always rise to meet whatever figure they like. They might be lucky but the chances are definitely lower in the last few years and ongoing imo.

That all sounds very stressful.
The overall problem appears to be a lack of listings, although you saying that there isn't even one suitable property in the whole county makes me wonder whether you are looking for something v niche. Hopefully, in early Spring, more people will start to list and get things going again, although sellers will likely need to be much more realistic too, including your friends who haven't had a single viewing in 5 months!!
I hope you get much more choice within the next few months.