Anyone else finding very little suitable property coming onto the market?

[pinkpetunias]

I’m not sure if this is the case for all areas but it is for ours. We really want to move but despite having valuations done we haven’t taken the plunge and put ours on the market because there is very little coming to market where we want to buy, and most available properties seem overpriced compared to what was sold over the last year or have issues. I’ve been watching the market in the area we want to buy for months, on EA books for private listings and there’s not been anything come up that we would want to view. We’re in Surrey.

I realise the irony that we are probably contributing to the problem with this but we don’t want to mess anyone around by securing a buyer for ours and not finding an onward purchase, and would like breaking the chain as a last resort. We can wait until next year but we will need to move then, but ideally want to now!

What is needed for the market to pick up? Is anyone else finding the same or is this a me problem and I’m just way pickier than I thought?

Exactly the same boat! This move will be our last so it has to be right. It is a real problem. We’re in Somerset.

Yes - most houses in our street have sold within 2 weeks of going on the market in the last couple of years. We always knew the challenge would be finding something we wanted to move to, so we did it that way round. I did have a few people telling me I have to have sold our house to view anything, but when we explained our situation to the estate agents locally, they were all fine with it

But everyone recognises the cost of housing is far too high, and needs to be more affordable. That means house prices need to come down except of course that has very real implications for people who’s house is worth less now than 2 years ago.

We're in a similar boat, we were planning to go on the market this year but so far there is nothing on the market that we want to buy. We don't desperately need to move so we are holding out. Lots of properties seem to be hanging around getting reduced too, so I think everything is being overpriced. Which makes me worry that we wouldn't even get the figure for our house that the estate agents quoted.

We're in the south east and the stamp duty is a killer too.

People are making reductions but in many cases, near me at least, they started off way too high. So they might have started off 15 percent over what it should be, then reduce by 5 percent then wonder why nobody is still interested. Looking at people I know who are selling, they're willing to wait to get top dollar for their own but will then seek a big discount on the one they're buying. The waiting assumes people will be paying more later on. But if interest rates go up that could be a problem.

Where I am (Scotland), properties are hitting the market then going to 'under offer' within days.

A work colleague of mine had 6 viewings the day after it was marketed and 3 offers all over the Home Report value within 2 days, accepted an offer within a week of going to market.

Another colleague didn't even go on the open market as one of the neighbours heard they were going up for sale and gave them an offer over the garden fence.

It's crazy.

That's good @Any1ForTennis It really depends on area, nothing is shifting where I am.

Same here. Are you in the SW?

No, SE.

It’s a really weird time for property. There’s not much on, but what is on seems to be on for ages, even with multiple price drops. I think people aren’t moving at the moment unless they absolutely absolutely have to.

There is a new build development a few miles away that has a range of three and four bed houses. Generally, if new builds aren’t selling, the developers add incentives, such as upgrades and stamp duty. I’ve not known them reduce the price before, but they are doing now.

There are houses coming on to the market and if they’re competitively priced, they’re selling. Others have been on for over a year and even with reductions, they’re not shifting. Sellers need to be very realistic about pricing. The upside is that an onward purchase will probably be less.

We sold and moved into rented with two young dc. We never would have got this house otherwise - it was super popular, and we only got it as nothing to sell, we completed in 6 weeks.

Like others I think we are here for several years - property taxes, double council tax charges and stamp duty on second properties (regardless of whether they are to be expressly used by family and not for Air BnBs), economic uncertainty, graduates leaving uni which significant debt and few job opportunities etc mean that the market is being squeezed from both ends. Rumours of possibly cancelling stamp duty in the next few years mean people are waiting to see if that happens, rumours of 9% tax for social care mean people are unsure of the affordability of future current mortgages etc.

So many variables and it has stalled the market nationally. Have to wait it out as it will settle or resolve eventually.

We have a different problem. Our 6 bedroom house in the south east, that has been in our family for 20 years, stone built, immaculate and up to date and spot on with its price, has had nothing but cheeky offers of 250k below asking price. Our estate agent is seeing this everywhere too. Every single viewer has been grabby and the fact that it is a buyer's market has completely gone to their heads. We are willing to negotiate but not give it away! No wonder then that sellers are holding off on listing for sale.

And your alternative buyer is where exactly? What’s the harm in letting them view? They might even be one of the people that don’t really even need to sell to buy their next house, which is true for us.

Price reductions are meaningless when the original asking prices are 20% or even 30% over in lots of cases.

Every day we look again at our terrace in a great area, with convenient transport, great neighbours, decent garden but needing some work and think it’s not worth the probably £350k extra we’d need to spend to get a semi or detached house with a garage in any place we want to live.

We’re talking a decade extra before retirement at current prices I think, which is mad.

I think this is just part of a normal cycle, you get this every so often
But this is why people are wrong when they say 'the seller will need to reduce'. Well they dont and they wont. They'll just sit there and wait or take their property off the market and the market slows down.

Yes, all those saying 'you're overpriced knock 10/15/20% off'...you first then!

But this is why people are wrong when they say 'the seller will need to reduce'. Well they dont and they wont. They'll just sit there and wait or take their property off the market and the market slows down.

Some might, which makes you wonder why they were trying to sell in the first place if they don't want to move. Others will have no choice but to sell, death, debt, divorce.

We have a different problem. Our 6 bedroom house in the south east, that has been in our family for 20 years, stone built, immaculate and up to date and spot on with its price, has had nothing but cheeky offers of 250k below asking price. Our estate agent is seeing this everywhere too. Every single viewer has been grabby and the fact that it is a buyer's market has completely gone to their heads. We are willing to negotiate but not give it away! No wonder then that sellers are holding off on listing for sale.

How do you know that it's 'spot on with its price' in the light of this?

What an odd perspective about a potential buyer. They likely have a specific set of requirements so rarely see anything suitable. I would imagine they don't want to sell their house and end up messing their buyer around because they can't find anything. The fact that they have said they will put their house on the market if they want to buy yours indicates that they are not time wasters.

We looked at a house 5 weeks ago and loved it. It was only the 2nd house we'd seen in 7 months that we liked as we are looking in a very small search area. We booked a 2nd viewing for a few days later and at the end of the viewing instructed the same EA to get ours on the market.
Our house sold in just under 3 weeks and we accepted a lower offer than we would've liked as it's a buy to let.
We already have a closed chain, searches have been ordered, all our sale and purchase paperwork completed for solicitor and full mortgage application has been completed.

As you've mentioned, it is a very slow market so sensible not to reduce your pool of potential buyers

I'm having the opposite problem! I can see loads of interesting properties to buy, but I don't dare view them because ours has been on the market for 6 weeks with absolutely zero interest (we are in the south-east). I think it helps that we are downsizing, and moving to a cheaper area, so there are a lot of possibilities.

And yes, I'm pretty certain that we are overpriced. It's a bit of a "niche" house, and no-one really knows what it's worth.

Thats an odd perspective to have. Surely the house value is what people are prepared to pay. If the offers are 250k less then thats its current value. Its only worth the 250k more if someone offers you that. I dont think you should look at those offers as cheeky, it makes you appear like a grabby seller, struggling to recognise you missed the peak.

Posting my dilemma must have brought us luck! We have now had an offer of 40k under asking which is exactly what we were expecting.There are a lot of grabby chancers out there which put sellers off listing their houses. It can feel like vultures circling.

Your asking price was 40k over what you expected to sell for? Why on earth would you do that?

We're in South Cambridgeshire and nothing bigger is moving. It's all the same stuff that's been on the market for months and months. Smaller houses are still selling, we're in a 3 bed cottage and our estate agent (who is also a friend and I trust her judgment) thinks we'll sell pretty quickly but there's nothing coming up that we want to move to. We're absolutely bursting at the seams and expecting our third baby in January but I do understand people with bigger houses sitting on them until the market recovers a bit rather than having to sell for substantially less than they'd have gotten 2 years ago.

Also though, I need a bigger house dammit!

It depends where you live. £40k over for an average property in London is nothing. Different estate agents valuing the same property will often have a bigger gap in their valuations than that!