Houses wildly overpriced near me and NOTHING is shifting

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My parents are house-hunting at the moment in the area close to me, and it's so frustrating. They've sold, but literally every "downsizable" house in my area is on for genuinely I would reckon about 200,000 more than they're worth. I think 2022 was about the peak in my area, but these prices look as if prices had carried on tracking up for the last four years. We're in an area that boomed during WFH, but is not going to do so well as people are ordered back to the office - which is certainly not reflected in the pricing. Nothing is shifting at all, and it's only going to get worse with Iran. Houses are going off the market and coming back on for sometimes, insanely more. It feels like people got their houses valued in 2022 and are just never going to accept that the market isn't there any more. I'm irrationally annoyed with one local estate agent who tells everyone their house is worth X when it's just clearly not the case. My parents accepted less than they would probably have got in 2022, because they figure that is what their house is worth now - and they can rent for a bit and they'd rather not be in a chain. GRRRRR.

@KeepPumping ’Interesting points, the immigration drop is very big I believe, Reform will be panicking because their main Vote For Us! issue is already being resolved it seems’

Yes, seems legal immigration has dropped significantly.
Illegal immigration is another beast. It will be interesting to see what their super plan is for that, and whether anyone believes it.

Legal immigration was always the problem, and FOM (controversial I know but IMO FOM was designed to suppress wages and increase profits for corporates as a mobile work force borrowed their way around the EU)

Yep, and also harder to "just rent it out", less demand and much more legislation.

I think FOM was to build a more unified Europe, but there’s no doubting it has suppressed wages and played a massive part in the stagnation of the UK.

I think it has created a more dangerous fragmented Europe because there are too many undocumented people wandering about now,, proper border checks are the basis of a safe well run society.

Op are your parents near me 😂

We moved last year. House took ages to sell, it took us being realistic & knocking it down to a pre covid value. Luckily our sellers were also pragmatic so they dropped too.

Meanwhile there are TONS of houses on the market locally. Some are on for almost double the price per sq ft that we sold ours for and have sat on market for over a year.

The issue is there's nothing forcing sales. Loads of them are empty inherited houses and the people who own them seem happy to stubbornly sit for years in hope of a buyer willing to pay 2021/2022 covid/low interest prices. Several also need reno and the sellers are refusing to allow for how much this will cost you nowadays.

The thing is those houses are costing the relatives to keep empty. They have to heat them to avoid damp and pay council tax . It doesn’t make any sense. Plus the cost of maintaining gardens etc.

I do think as financial circumstances get worse for most people, then this will concentrate the minds of the inherited house sellers.

Yes, and if prices take a dip it should focus them on reality even more.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj401ll8j5zo

Well this is what I hoped would happen. Slow stagnation of prices against a backdrop of pay increases which reduces prices in real terms. I have a house but my three young adults don’t.
Anecdotally we crunched some numbers for buying vs renting flats recently and it appears to be significantly cheaper to rent. (London commuter area of Surrey). We even saw a couple of reduced rentals which is amazing and very different to the days of queues and outbidding.

Not convinced by that really, there is going to be a global downturn as Iran start playing hardball (started now) they want to reign in Israel and will use the cards at their disposal (ability to send inflation sky high) A collapse in prices is more likely, and minimal wage rises, the multiple of wages to house price in too many areas just doesn"t stack up, it was being made up with cheap credit.

Agree with a downturn

but I’m afraid the fault lies in the current aggressors ie the US and Israel. Especially with Israel ignoring the agreement over Lebanon confirmed by Pakistan. You continue bombing then you’re still at war

The resulting increased cost of living will have an effect on the U.K. housing and rental market. It usually does.

Yes some houses near me have been sat there since last summer! Needing big updates. Surely after that long the penny should drop

Loads of this near me. So frustrating

Do you mention Israel in every post?

@KatiePricesKnickers

keep pumping mentioned them first so I responded

Any problems with that then it’s wiser to tag them if you aren’t keen

Me too…. The number of houses by me that have increased prices 30-40% in the past 4-5 years from when they last sold is unbelievable. Then they sit on the market for months….

Agreed, this is a very big and dangerous move they have made.

Many people will never sell, they just can"t process the basic economic fact that a house doesn"t "store" a certain value or always go up in value.

I check the old listings on zoopla to see what improvements they’ve made- or in some cases not made!

I find it so odd. I’d never put my house on the market and not want to move asap!

It is odd but people do.

Be cautious as some properties are wrong on zoopla
Ours currently shows as a barn down the road
A property we sold in London showed as another in a different street

Well exactly, you would think there was a real reason behind it, an actual need to move.