Has anyone listed in the last 2 weeks?

[YellowDuck1]

Since the new year we’d been gearing up to sell our house. We were finally ready to list this week and I think we might have timed it awfully. The market feels quieter than ever with everything going on Iran.

Has anyone else listed in the last few weeks? Have you had any interest?

I think the south east has never recovered from the effect of the Liz Truss budget. I tried to sell my house in a commuter town in Hampshire for over a year as I was leaving the area and reduced it several times, hardly any viewings and no offers. I still have it tenanted as the valuation last year before this latest economic shock was still less than the lowest price I failed to sell at in 2023.

For personal reasons I am going to sell it regardless when the current tenants leave in December, I can’t imagine things will have improved by then ☹️

I think since Covid too so many people are WFH more that they don’t need to be as close to London

Liz Truss has a lot to answer for

With the way the economy is, I would think selling a house is going to get tougher over the next few years. Wages need to catch up a bit to make housing a tad more affordable and that will take several years. Selling prices next year are looking likely to be lower than current. We were thinking about moving but now are going to ride out the next few years at least in our current home and then take a view.

I really do not want to be here a few more years but will just have to see what happens. Have told myself if it doesn’t sell by July I’ll book to take the kids to Disney as a bit of a consolation 🤷🏻‍♀️ convinced we will not sell

We went live on Monday, had a below asking price offer from a cash buyer within hours. About 4 bookings for the open day in a few weeks. It's very much a FTB property though.

OP, surely selling your house comes first? If you can't shift it at the current asking price then it's overpriced. That doesn't mean that the house you want to buy is overpriced and should go for less. You just can't afford it

What do you mean selling mine comes first? I’m hardly trying to buy the other house whilst this hasn’t sold?

Yes we listed just over 2 weeks ago, only 1 viewing, lots of people saying they love our home but can’t afford the £675,000 price tag, it’s the high end price for a property in our town

Yes, but not everybody will have difficulty paying higher mortgage rates, there is a fair chance though that spending into other areas of the economy will get cut back, that creates another set of problems, and don"t forget credit cards, they are a totally toxic blight on modern society in my opinion, so many people are so reliant on credit now it is scary.

Ours is a higher price for our area but has been extended. I think the problem is anyone trying to buy our houses will likely have a property to sell and not a FTB. Think if we was marketing to FTB would be more successful

House prices need to correct to levels that match interest rates, wages are going nowhere, AI is starting to replace a lot of jobs now.

Yea you’re probably right. We wouldn’t have difficulty paying a higher interest rate on the house we’ve seen but like you say it would mean we couldn’t spend money in other areas and holidays etc are a priority above a bigger fancier house (for us personally)

No but I had a valuation for a property yesterday and the EA said business was down 80% since the Iran war and prices are similarly down.

This is not a good time to sell unless you have to.

Glad they were honest with you - the same can’t be said for my agent

We went on the market a week ago. Had some viewings at the weekend, got some more this weekend including a second viewing. We are on at the price the EA said. If we don’t sell in a month I’d cut the price.

Hope you get a buyer. I’m going to give it a month too and then drop to the minimum we can accept and see what happens

And this is the problem. Sellers of FTB properties drop their prices so that they can sell but then find that the properties they want to buy have not reduced their prices so either they take the hit and find the extra money required or they are stuck and can't find anywhere suitable or affordable to buy.

I agree with some other posters that if you don't have to sell now then stay put and see how things play out with the economy and the whole middle East situation for the rest of the year. The only problem with this is that this time last year people were saying the same thing and here we are a year later and we are still in a similar or even worse situation economically now.

Shame I don’t have a crystal ball really 😅 or a Time Machine. Looking at the prices on zoopla I should have resold this place 1-2 years ago

Totally agree with this. So many overpriced properties that stay on the market for months. Prices and demand surged in Covid and people haven’t readjusted. They have this crazy idea about what they can get and EAs encourage them. Buyers are canny though and won’t pay more than it’s worth. The way I see it if a property has been on for months at a particular price then it’s overpriced. I’m not going to buy an overpriced property as I’ll be in immediate negative equity. The simple choice is reduce your price or stay put.

It hasn’t been on for months hence me asking if anyone has listed in the last 2 weeks

It was a general comment not aimed specifically at you. It’s also very area specific. I’m in Greater London so there are always buyers. But in most areas the market isn’t as buoyant. Then it comes down to a choice - drop your price or stay put.

Let's just hope you are not saying the same thing this time next year or the year after 😏

I have been trying to sell for a year now and initially I just thought I would just "test" the market and see how things play out but after seeing how difficult it was to find a buyer I doubled down and decided to just suck up the pain now and keep going until I sell and here I am 12 months down the line, 1 failed transaction down and 1 ongoing sale and onward purchase in progress but still not knowing what surprise will spring up in the coming weeks and months.

Yea tbh this isn’t even the worse bit. The worst bit is trying to make it to exchange. Hope it goes through for you soon. Maybe we should just power on, I’ll see!

Not at all the sale is happening because my husband decided after 32 years he wants a different person to prioritise, foolish man!

Oh no - I’m so sorry 😩

This.
If you have only just listed, @YellowDuck1, don't panic. Research your local market carefully, see what is actually selling. If nothing is moving then it appears that everyone is over pricing, taking a far more optimistic view of the market that is not in line with reality. A lot of sellers are simply listing too high and insisting that their home is worth 'x' when it clearly isn't because no one is offering (not directed at you, general comment).
Lots of people assume, incorrectly imo, that the market will improve. I've seen so many comments in the last 2-3 years on here about relisting in the Spring, next year, give it a year or two. My opionion was that things are likely to get worse, rather than better. I would say that more strongly now with the current geopolitical situation, which will have massive effects on the economy if it does not stop very soon!
You mentioned being interested in a new build which has already been reduced. If they are not selling, you may well be able to negotiate a further reduction in AP and/or them paying your SDLT or something. If you really want to move in falling/slow market, price on the lower side and then try to negotiate on your onward purchase.