Anyone struggling to sell a flat?

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I know it's across the board at the moment, but is anyone else really struggling to sell their flat? We got a modern 2 bedroom apartment in surrey in a good location and have even put our price down, but we are receiving nothing at the moment. We did have viewers in previously and 1 person even close to offering, then pulling out at the last minute. It's been literally baron for months with no 1 viewer. I get the market is volatile at the moment, but it's ridiculous the flat market in particular which are extremely difficult to sell. Anyone selling a flat/apartment experiencing the same issues?

You may need to accept you can't move - that's getting to be a short lease and that's a very expensive service charge, thought mine was bad at 2k.

How old are your DC? I bought a 2 bed flat (Surrey postcode but part of a london borough) as that's all I could afford. I have 2 teen DS and they share the larger bedroom with a kallax as a room divider and I have the smaller one, with a homework (aka hours of scrolling youtube!) desk for one of them in my room to give them space.

We don’t pay rent. Bought the property as a new build and have lived here 9 years now. If your person of interest is still looking at flats in surrey, drop me a direct message and i will send you a link. Our service charge is lower than anywhere else in our area and hasn’t changed much. Our neighbours are also amazing. It’s only a small gated complex apartment with security car park for 2 parking spaces for ourselves. Common views from balcony. Our place is great and it’s not like we’re desperate to get out, but we would like to upsize to a 3 bedroom house

Wow, no wonder it’s not selling with a 79 year lease and that service charge! It does sound like you can’t afford to move really, OP - maybe you could look into a lease extension; it will cost you but may make the flat more appealing to buyers.

Our service charge is £1500 at the moment which is pretty reasonable for the area. Most are well over 2k. Our lease is 130 years so plenty left on that for not to worry. Our kids are 2 and 5. Issue is boy/girl, so they will need their separate rooms eventually

Hey? I think you’re replying to wrong person. Where did i say 79 years lease?

I think you are talking about somebody else here. Our flat has a 130 year lease and a £1500 service charge so i’m not sure where you got this from as definitely not my thread

hi all, i’m not sure why the person above said my place is shared ownership with a 79 year lease. They are talking about a completely different person. Our flat is owned fully by us and not shared ownership. It’s a 130 year leese with a £1500 service charge so that post is false. Talking about someone completely different

Op in your shoes i would rent some storage and sit tight and see if there is a change in stamp duty rules which will either get thinks moving or will mean you ca afford to remortgage your flat with a buy to let, rent it out and then rent or buy a bigger house.

I’m struggling to sell mine too and only am trying as I want to move areas. Otherwise I would wait till next government to see if stamp duty changes.

This is the worst time I’ve known it for people trying to sell flats. I would never buy one and don’t recommend anyone else to buy one unless the tenure is share of freehold and you’re in a good area so it’s somewhat likely to appreciate in value. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that flats tend not to appreciate in value as much as houses.

So I agree with others OP to sit tight for now.

I have had to report this for misinformation as this is completely false and has just thrown everyone off in their replies. As i said above. Our place is fully owned, 130 years on lease and £1500 service charge. Very different to what this person above has said

cheers all, we will look at alternatives to potentially lower price a little more as other positives are houses are coming down in our area. It would just mean coming in with a slightly lower offer on the purchase and hoping we get lucky. If not, pretty happy to wait it out for now.

how long you been on the market?

As an example, my ds is 22 and likely a few years off buying but I would always advise him against buying leasehold if he had any other option at all. I’m channelling my mother here but tbh she lived a good life on a shoestring for many years so I do pay attention to her financial guidelines.

If there’s an option to convert to a share of the freehold I would look at that.

My daughter’s friend is struggling to sell her flat. It’s been on the market for ten months. After all that time, three offers came in and she’s accepting the highest one. But it’s £30K less than what she paid five years ago. Apparently lenders are becoming increasingly reluctant to lend on flats because of rip off management company charges.

yeh unfortunately flats are losing value.

I think people are more cautious about flats these days because of the cladding scandals and more awareness of unreasonable service charges, lease extensions and ground rents.

Leasehold really is an antiquated and unfair system that only England and Wales seem to cling to.

Plus Covid has shown the importance of having some outside space and many flats don't come with a garden.

yeh it is so outdated isn't it. At the time 9 years ago we could only afford a flat and i'm glad we bought a 2 bedroom because whilst we would love to upsize, our flat is still very big and certainly not tight. It has enough space for the 2 kids and a lovely balcony with common views, but realistically with 2 kids now we do need a garden and a room each for them. Let's see what happens.

We sold a flat this year, we were desperate as we were 2 adults and a toddler in a one bedroom, so sold it for slightly less than I’d paid 6 years earlier.

Yes it's a low SC. But if the price is on the same level as 2-bed houses, though your flat is modern and probably has a better layout, people will prefer a freehold house with a garden, or even a garden flat in a conversion. This is a UK mentality.
So your price should be competitive if you need to sell.

I would not leave Surrey for a house in a nearby county. Move only when you want a total change. In the Surrey town I live in families often complain their young adults cannot buy a starter home, so you will have buyers eventually...many Eastern Europeans buy flats because with two Nat min wage jobs this is what is affordable in Surrey

A lot of people would be very uncomfortable with that kind of drop, you must have wanted out of there badly?

Very common story now.

Yes the 65k drop was 20%. No regrets here and our buyer couldn’t resist the bargain price.

20% isn"t much in this market so I suppose not too bad.