Houses wildly overpriced near me and NOTHING is shifting

[toffeeapple45]

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.

Well it’s all going pretty much to the timeline as I outlined on here for many years.
I said on here for people to get a 10 year fix in 2021.
I said on here that people they would have one more chance in the deflation window (sub 4%) to fix for 5 years after the first inflationary wave before the secondary inflation wave begun.

Now it’s seems as though that 2nd inflation wave may finally be here, and yes the property prices will suffer, but the bank criteria of lending will restrict so those coming forced sales may be more difficult to capitalize for those that have been waiting for a correction for over a decade.

https://postimg.cc/8JHH8Xfs

south London here, not prime but nice area. Everything's sticking. Our neighbour put his house on the market for about £100k more than it's realistically going to get. Completely over egged the price. He had a few viewings at first but nothing now. We have friends who can't see their home, need to accept less than they paid in 2016. For now you just need to sit it out and hope things get better

That must be a shock for those who have spent many many years saving for a deposit, which is why buyers are wise to hold off now unless they can get a good and not over inflated price.

In my town and surrounding villages there are so many houses priced £800k+ that have sat on the market for years. They’re occasionally reduced but not enough to attract buyers. One house has been on for around 2.5 years- started at £1.1 million, reduced to £1 million, then reduced to £950k, then reduced again and again until it got down to £865k. Two weeks ago it was raised to £1 million again!? It’s a nice but very ordinary 4 bed house with a small garden. Just down the road a 5 bed house on an acre of land recently sold for just over £1 million. How these people can think they’ve priced their house correctly is beyond me.

We’ve fallen in love with a house that’s been priced at least £100k over what the estate agent advised them to put it on at. We could afford to pay the price they want but we’re not prepared to. The house has been on since early January and they’ve had two viewings- one of which was us. The owners (who need to move) are adamant they’re holding out for their asking price because they’re basing the worth of their house on what their next door neighbours have put their house on for. The neighbours’ house has been on the market since before Covid and they’ve only knocked £50,000 off the price in all that time. Again, they’re not getting the viewings. It’s crazy.

I agree with you my parents sold in 2020 for 440k their neighbours are trying to sell now for 400k the exact same layout etc. and its been on the market for two years with zero interest.
People are deluded, need to have it all revalued and sold at current prices not prices from 6 years ago.

Yes, I think many landlords trying to exit are finding out you can"t just "pop a flat on the market" and get a quick sale anymore.

There's one like that in our road - it was sold in Nov 2022 for 425k (the vendor had purchased in 2016 for 268k and replaced everything to a high standard in the intervening six years). The new owners changed the paint colours and ripped out the mature garden, replacing it with paving/no plants.

According to neighbours (we only bought ours in 2024 so weren't here then), it went back on the market for over 500k in 2023. When it didn't sell, they let it out as an airbnb because we're in a popular seaside location. Last year they tried remarketing at 450k which was incrementally reduced to 350k. The sale has just completed and someone who's spoken with the new owner says she paid 325k - 100k less than the vendors paid, which is a lot on a fairly low value property.

Meanwhile the woman who sold it in 2022 purchased a larger house further down the same road for 710k. Looking at local sold prices I believe that's now worth 595k max!

Things are obviously moving in the right direction, why didn"t the AirBnB thing work out?

Friend who’s looking to move said not a single mortgage product available to them. Called EA who tried to insist things will improve in spring/not to take house off market. Can understand it is so difficult for them but would rather have a bit of honesty about how dire the situation is

Red book valuation by a qualified Valuer is way to go rather than a silver suited hair gelled estate agent

I don't know for certain (they live in Portugal so are rarely here/have never spoken to them), but they've since purchased a smaller cottage in the same road, also for Airbnb purposes. They seem to stay in this on the rare occasions they're in the UK, so guess they wanted to offload the other house and guess they initially assumed they'd make a profit 🙄

There's one other house in our road for sale - purchased in 2020 for 514k, since when it's had - new kitchen, boiler and roof overhaul. It came onto the market last summer for 605k and is now 595k. It's been on with at least three different EAs and the vendor (elderly woman) is desperate to move back to the Midlands where her family are. But obviously not so desperate she'll drop to a more realistic price 🙄

But you can, if the house is in some way a little better than average. Our DS is in the process of buying his first property and is buying from a landlord who has clearly made back his capital but doesn't want to deal with the avalanche of new requirements imposed by the Renters Reform regulations that will hit in May. The vendor has used his trusted builder and plumber to fix problems and prettify. He's sold through his trusted letting agents, with a small percentage off the asking price, and DS has paid more than the same property in the parallel street behind. But he will have a view of the canal and allotments, and it is the only house for sale in the only street in that city a short walk from the centre that does. So it is a fair price, although it's £20k above the going rate for the area in general.

Same here in the north west. It’s very frustrating as a FTB because as someone buying later in life and alone, I need a big deposit (which I have). But what I don’t have is at least £30k left over from my savings for a renovation job.

I agree that we are v likely to see a credit crunch as things deteriorate. The terrible war is clearly not going to help the already stumbling worldwide economy.

Forbes March 16th

‘ The UK’s biggest mortgage lender says prices rose by 0.3% in February, adding to an increase of 0.8% in the previous month and pushing the average property value to £301,151, writes Kevin Pratt.

Halifax, which is part of the Lloyds banking group, says this is an increase from £300,283 in January and a rise of £3,000 during 2026.

Year-on-year, prices are up 1.3%.
Amanda Bryden, the lender’s head of mortgages, said:
“These latest figures suggest the market has regained some momentum after a softer end to 2025. While data for January shows a slight easing in new mortgage approvals, overall activity has continued to prove resilient.”

From mortgage lenders, based on actual house sales, it’s definitely not showing house prices are going down

@BrownTroutBluesAgain and UK inflation is over 3%.
So if houses aren’t increasing by over 3%, they are decreasing in value.

One landlord selling isn"t the UK market!

The next move seems to be hitting power and water across the gulf if US attacks power in Iran.

I think it’s only London (and possible SE?) where housing has stalled. Can’t say I’ve noticed this in the north. I am constantly getting estate agent leaflets through the door telling me that people are looking to buy in your area.

Everything I’ve read says that house prices are expected to rise modestly this year, not fall.

Around my area very few sales are people who “need to sell”, they are largely in a position where they can wait. Nor have values fallen over the last few years - they have held and even increased.

The market is patchy - good family houses in popular areas remain strong and are not losing value. If your parents’ target area fits this description you may be underpricing due to the market simply being slower over the last couple of years and if not will face a long wait for prices to change. This leaves your parents with the option of selling and moving to rented (gambling on price changes) or pulling out and postponing the move for a year or more or buying in a less favoured area.

In much of the SE downsizing is made difficult by the lack of suitable downsizing properties. Around here if you wanted to drop from eg a large family 4-5 bed house to say the proverbial bungalow with 2-3 beds and a small garden, not only would you struggle to release any capital but the moving costs would leave you in deficit. Many countries give tax breaks for downsizing precisely to help free up larger properties caught in this trap.

It probably depends on the type of property too. The trouble with downsizing is that the smaller properties are sought after by both downsizers, and first time buyers. However, if the economy worsens, and mortgage rates go up, then people in these smaller properties won’t be able to afford to upsize, and will just stay put. You may also get people who are forced to downsize due to economic conditions. This puts a lot of pressure on that section of the market.

Flats seem to be out of favour at the moment, so you might be more likely to see price drops there.

Neighbours moved in January, they purchased a year or so before covid and didn't do much to the house other than replacing the fencing in the garden and pave the driveway. They sold for only £25k more than the purchase price and if you deduct any money they did spend they are lucky to break even.

It's definitely not easy right now to be making money on properties. Timing and luck is everything.

Same near me 2/3 years ago properties sold within a week of going on the market. Properties now taking 6months to a year to shift. There are a couple of properties that have been on there for over 2 years.
They are all ridiculously overpriced.

The trouble with downsizing is that the smaller properties are sought after by both downsizers, and first time buyers

I disagree with this, as someone who will eventually downsize from a large detached family house I certainly won’t be looking at first time buyer properties, downsizing does not necessarily mean moving downmarket, as @C8H10N4O2 posted, bungalows can often be priced the same or more as the large family homes.

This is affecting the rental market too. Neighbour has a rental property nearby. Couldn’t sell it ,so is trying to rent it out for a ridiculous amount of money and is suprised they havent had a single viewing!