Is anyone on the market but having zero interest?

[rootsandwings89]

We put our house on the market a month ago and only had 1 viewing so far :( our estate agent says the market is very nervous and nothing is moving …. Anyone else in the same boat?

Not always. There are some houses that drop significantly and are worth far more but other people can’t sell theirs so therefore can’t buy. Mortgage rates are enough to put anyone off too. Also with stamp duty and the usual fees, a lot of people just can’t afford to move with the cost of living being so high now. Houses in our area that have always sold like hot cakes are just sitting , even with crazy reductions.

We need to sell but the estate agent advised to hold off even putting it on the market for at least another month until we can see what happens with interest rates. This tells me it really is dire at the moment. Bloody Donald Trump.

I think 9% below is reasonable actually. If they came back they'd still be liable to the first agent for the fees.
Right now it doesn't really matter 'what other houses have sold for' if there's no one right now with those available funds then there's no one to sell to. See also pricing at the same price as all the other houses - but if the windows or roof or pointing need doing then it puts people off. They can't afford a expensive mortgage AND work.
To put it bluntly 25 k more on the mortgage is 200 extra on your monthly bill. Even at high levels of income that is alot.
What we have seen is that mostly only those (mostly over a certain age) with a huge amount of cash can afford the more expensive properties.
I would be wary of 'waiting for the right buyer cos we don't need to move right now'. There arnt going to be more people with more money in a year. The economy is going down not up.

Just to say it’s definitely the pricing. In our area we have seen properties on for 20% - 30% above what seems reasonable (and in line with historic sales) and then sellers seem to copy each other. The only properties that have sold are the reasonably priced ones. The issue is people think the prices have stayed the same since 2022 but they really haven’t and so there’s just a lot of overinflated pricing going on. I would say time and again it’s the price. I blame EAs mainly for this as they should be advising sellers much better, but it’s in their interest to get the business but suggesting a higher price and also they don’t want to lose commission.

A house on our road was bought for 410,000 in 2022 and is still sitting unsold at 375,000 for the last 6 months.

The factors you have mentioned there are literally all about the price!
The houses aren't worth more or they would have sold. They are currently worth whatever they sell at now, not a year ago. It sounds as if the market in your area has suddenly fallen a lot.

'I would be wary of 'waiting for the right buyer cos we don't need to move right now'. There arnt going to be more people with more money in a year. The economy is going down not up.'

Exactly as @Nodwyddaedafedd says. I think I may have said this earlier. There is always an assumption that things will improve soon. That's unlikely (barring a possible small bounce if the war in Iran finishes).

You would think people could work it out by now, rates have been under upward pressure for quite a while? SKY news seem to be back to focussing on the SoH, maybe that will focus minds.

Economist on SKY earlier talking about a 6% hit to global GDP if the situation continues. It is almost funny watching the BOE try to sit on their hands regarding the inevitable interest rate rises, almost funny if things were not so serious.

Following as we've been on the market just over 2 weeks, had no interest in the first 10 days, dropped our price by 5% then have had one viewing. It's very slow!

I've mentioned this before, but one of the 'new' (1980s) builds in our road - a conservation area which has a mix of styles/sizes of properties ranging from 250-700k - was purchased in 2022 for 425k. It recently completed at 325k!

One way or another interest rates and mortgage rates are going up, just plan for that. People shouldn"t be buying unless they can afford the mortgage debt at 10%. Have you used a mortgage calculator to see what your target buyers can actually afford?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/bank-of-japan-keeps-rates-steady-but-hawkish-split-points-to-june-hike/ar-AA21UiJE

I'm not sure about this @KeepPumping. The RBA have been busy raising rates but The Fed and BOE have kept them stable. I agree that inflation will v likely rise short term but I can't see how rate rises will help. What I think is most likely is that we head into a recession later in the year (agree that there will be a big hit to global GDP) and bond yields fall. What happens to oil prices depends on whether we see lots of demand destruction linked to the recession. Impossible to ever be sure...

Wow. That is shocking and the worst % price fall I have seen. That must have been genunely tough for the sellers.

I agree with this. Even if rates do fall in the fairly short term (as above), I think they are highly likely to rise in the longer term. I think we will generally have a lot of inflation and higher yields through the course of people's mortgage terms.

My mum’s house has been on for 4 weeks, two offers from two sets of people, but neither have sold theirs. She is in a good position in that she hasn’t found anything she wants yet and can move out with no upward chain as she can stay with us. Estate agent said they are seeing an increase in viewings in the past week, but who knows. we need to get her moved as she is far away from family since her sister died, so really hope something happens soon.

It is easy to find similar examples (look for red entries on houseprices.io ) such as this - albeit not so bad on a percentage basis. However, if you look at the rest of Brighton there is a swathe of Green indicating that sellers are still making real gains over inflation. So, as ever, one example will not tell the whole story.

Agree @XVGN one example never shows the whole story.

It's always worth doing lots of research into what is happening generally in your area if buying or selling - using sites like houseprices.io and Righmove Sold Prices.

Fingers x @Delatron

How up to date are those sites @Twiglets1 I thought Rightmove took months to show the actual sold price?

I think this may have something to do with it. We had a 3 bed sell within 2 weeks on our street at 775. Next street down 4 bed house has been on at 950. No takers now down to 900 different agents for at least a year. No takers. Its clearly the price and its not crazy buying season we saw 3-4 yrs ago during covid. We live very close to the most oversubscribed primary and secondary schools in the borough.

What site is that? There's no sold data past February on Rightmove.

@JustAlice i googled it (house prices io) and found it. Very interesting.

The interest rates make such a difference.

A 450k loan on a 600k house at 2% is 122k in interest. At 5% it’s 340k interest. Thats a lot of money just to service debt.

Rightmove does take about 3 months to show prices paid.

The other site more up to date as it records price reductions as they happen.

I haven't used houseprice.io myself.

In the example that you have screenshotted, the sellers have just made a large loss as they bought at the 2022 peak. People who bought 10+ years ago in Brighton would probably mostly make ££ right? Historically, many areas have risen more than inflation. That might not be the case going forwards from 2022 though.