Properties on for £800k+ not selling? Why?

[MuckyBrass]

Near me, there are loads of houses on Rightmove for around £800k, £900k, even up to £1m ish which have sat on the market for a year or two. I've long been desperate to move to a bigger house so I check Rightmove all the time, but my budget is more like £600k so I've never viewed any of them, and really I'm just being nosy. They are all lovely houses, I'd buy any of them in a heartbeat if they were on for £600k. I don't understand. Are they really for sale? Or are they just sitting on Rightmove as pretty houses to make the estate agents's rosters look good? Some of them have had their prices reduced by £100k or even more at various points, but they're still evidently not selling at the £800k plus mark.

I'm in a small (but fairly naice) market town with no train station, not an easy commute to any major city, so I actually struggle to think who would be earning enough or have the cash around here to be the actual buyers for houses in that price bracket anyway. We're not talking loads of land, either. These are normal town houses, period properties mostly, small gardens, 4-6 bedrooms.

The property market is broken and average house prices are crippling families - so yes let’s blame the labour government for successfully managing to edge house prices slightly down without collapsing the market

Give them time - we have another three years to endure yet

Speaking as a homeowner with some unearned equity, Labour haven't done anything like enough damage to the property market.

I agree.
The property bubble is detrimental to the economy as a whole & needs to be deflated.

The bond market ultimately runs the property market though not Labour, both main parties have done everything in their power to prop it up (meaning help out big developers) with ridiculous HTB and shared ownership schemes and the madness of the SD holiday (save a few quid so you can massively overpay for a house!) all these schemes do is trap people in debt.

The "Ten Year Yield" runs the property market and the magic number is 5, 5%, above this level things start to get very uncomfortable for people with big debt loads, why do you think Trump keeps U-Turning when his pronouncements start pushing the US Ten Year up towards 5? The latest thing I heard was that the EU were making noises about dumping US Treasuries over Greenland, then Lo and Behold Greenland U-Turn!

The deflation is coming, people with large mortgage debts need to start making overpayments straight away in my opinion.

https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-bond-selloff-ken-griffin-vigilantes-us-debt-fiscal-policy-2026-1

Teachers in 800k houses? There will be quite a bit of borrowing involved for most teachers who bought houses at 800k. The only reason most ordinary people think they have an "800k house" is years of cheap mortgage debt, it has very little to do with salaries, a lot of these houses have a long long way to fall in price to hit true value.

Some people try to sell for 800K properties they've bought for 600-650K in 2022-2023 (no renovations involved) - don't think it's going to happen.
Some simply can't afford to move without getting X amount of money from the sale.

LOL, those people are just on the wrong side of the bond markets now, they are shit out of luck as someone once said in a movie or something. The trick now is selling before it is worth less than you paid, not trying to get magic fairy prices.

Yes and this is another interesting point.
At what stage ca people in politics be fired for negligence? Never unfortunately - the sole sanction is the ballot box.

Separately, it seems that the wider public sector is well protected too. Until this changes and productivity increases across the board, we have no hope of turning around Britain.

So we need to choose

Yes, I suspect there are some people who are 'stuck', unable to move and I suspect there will be lots more people in this situation in coming years.
Selling properties bought at peak market price for a profit isn't going to happen in most areas. There are still quite a few delusional sellers hanging on expecting a 15% profit from 2022 but I've also seen several with the asking price reduced below what they bought for now.

You obviously have an innate dislike for Labour and the public sector and so are incapable of thinking objectively. In terms of house prices, they are simply over valued relative to incomes.
I disagree that Labour did immense damage to the property market in the last budget. In terms of pricing, some of their actions have tended to increases prices, others to slightly decrease. The renters bill will probably have a negative effect for some renters, although I'm not sure if you are referring to this or just prices. In terms of the general economy, I think the employers NI tax rise was a big mistake and has only served to increase job losses in an economy which was clearly heading towards recession some time back. Overall, Labour and Tories have been similarly bad. It's funny how those who hate Labour seem to completely forget the 14 years or Tories that preceeded them and the destruction and decline that they over saw. Of course, the UK decline has been going on far longer though.

Completely agree, although not only detrimental to the economy as a whole but to the society in general. It's a terrible thing for the young.

We’re looking to brave the property market, hopefully in the spring- trying to ‘size up’ from 2 bedrooms to the classic 3 bed semi

We tried a couple of years ago but gave up as offers we were made kept being reduced weeks later (before survey/anything) and properties we had our eye on the sellers were not budging at all on price

Interestingly some of the houses we looked at never ended up selling or have popped back on the market under a new agent as a ‘new listing’ or re listed with same agent

We are looking in zone 5 SE London- West Wickham & Hayes

Quite a few 800k + properties on the market usually 4 bedrooms, quite a few have been since last summer

In fairness many purchase several years ago but often were already extended/no significant work done since but very nice interior design

Looking at previous sold prices many sellers are pitching at doubling their money eg paid £420k in 2013 and now asking for £800+ k

Unless you’re selling up in zone 2/3 (Dulwich, Forrest Hill) and have a shit load of equity, this kind of price is out of reach even if you both earn above average salaries

And the old who were conned into believing they were sitting on a small lottery win (if only those pesky youngsters would stop buying phones and take on more mortgage debt!) many will never sell now, some are so brainwashed that the thought of a large "loss" rather than a "gain" will keep them on he market for years waiting for the elusive buyer that is not bound by common sense and the laws of economics.

I suspect the days of "doubling your money" with property are well behind us now, stocks maybe, not property.

My how times have changed!

https://thenegotiator.co.uk/news/uk-housing-market-news/london-property-high-risk-investment/

I think this thread shows how people have to be so careful viewing property as an investment assuming a continuing upward trend in value.

House price deflation will pass off a lot of middle England IMHO

Pass off?

Piss off (Typo correction)

Well yes, property and property price was an obsession for so many, they won"t be happy watching the losses mount up, not so bad if the mortgage debt is paid off I suppose?

I'm not sure the old were conned exactly as many have made huge gains on the properties and benefitted hugely as a result, as have their children andeven grandchildren. I think it's the younger people that have been conned by 'property prices only ever go up', 'property is a sure bet' sort of talk.
I agree with you that those who have been trying to selling for years and, no doubt, many who list this Spring, are deluded and have listed/will list at far too high a price for the market of younger people. A lot of these homes come on and off the market or bounce between agents, as @TurquoiseDress has just said. Some will go on care home fees eventually, some will never sell and will be shared between their children but may well be worth much less in real terms by then, some will wake up and reduce the price adequately.

some will never sell and will be shared between their children but may well be worth much less in real terms by then

How would this work though, would all the children live there?

That's a very good point!

A lot of families are having just one kid for financial reasons because of this.