Are estate agents overvaluing homes in Wales and elsewhere?

[2longinthetooth]

When are estate agents going to get real. Seriously here in Wales their valuations are crazy. Can people be that deluded that they think they will achieve 350k for a semi in the valleys. These are not exceptional properties neither. I mean wth.
Ive been following the market for 1yr and this summer I can count on 1 hand the properties that have actually sold. Surely estate agents have to get a grip at some point because surely they are starting to lose a lot of money. People are not even reducing. Its gone full stalemate. I think they are hoping its their summer slump and September will improve but ive doubts. Properties have been sitting on the market for well over a yr, some are reaching their 2yr mark. Who are these people who sit for that long. Obviously not serious house movers.
How is it in the rest of the country.

Yes, I agree that certainly in Wales houses are being valued unrealistically. Some sellers are reducing the prices. Some people do want to sell but aren’t under pressure so are prepared to wait.

Its not complete delusion - because at one time, when interest rates were still at emergency levels (up until 2022 ish) those prices might have been achievable.
A return to more normal borrowing cost plus a massive cost of living increase has changed the landscape for the foreseeable future.
For many sellers they simply cannot afford (or wont accept) to sell at the new realistic prices needed to get a buyer - prices are falling so slowly as a result of this reality - in addition to EA's still pricing high.
Even if we get higher interest rates later this year, thats not going to speed things up much. Its going to take another couple of years probably for values to properly re-set.
Meanwhile - at least in my area some homes do still still sell quickly. These are the homes where sellers can afford (or do accept) to be realistic with the asking price. More from the other category sit unsold though - quite a lot more.
Its a slow adjustment and will remain so for some time I think.

I’m not sure. I sold in May (Wales) and we wondered if the house was undervalued as it sold on the first day. A friend just sold in a neighbouring town and she sold straight away too.

We had 6 houses on our development (c2007) up for sale in the last year. Only two have sold. We were one of the six but have decided to rent it out after a £95k reduction and still no interest.
These were all £500k+ modern 'executive' 4/5 beds. Few people are employed at this level locally. £150k salaries are far and few between with many 50+ SLT unemployed for over a year.

I think many agents overvalue to get the instruction, our first did but the most damaging part is the reductions that follow. It looks bad and you look desperate.

We’re in Cardiff and the size house we need is currently on at 550k plus. I’ve been watching the market for a year too. These houses go from agent to agent and just sit there. Insanely overpriced but those in them seem in no hurry to move.

We moved recently in Mid Wales. We had two agents out to do a valuation. One valuation was quite a bit lower than the other one. The lower one was the realistic valuation. I used to work in estate agency and I had been keeping an eye on the market and looking closely and what was selling, and what wasn't.

I wanted to go with the agent that priced realistically but my DH wouldn't and was a bit dilluded about how much we could realistically get for the house. I gave him my opinion and flat out told him there was no way we were going to get the asking price that he wanted it to go on at. We decided to try anyway as we were not in a huge rush to sell and it is his house too.

9 months later and we had only had a handful of viewings all with the same feedback, its too expensive. My DH said that it was worth a try in case someone wanted to make us a cheeky offer. They didn't.

He then agreed with me that we should drop the price. The price drop we went for was the same price the other agent wanted to put it on for. Immediately we got a lot of interest and had an offer that was just under asking that we accepted. Had we just gone on initially at this lower price I am sure we would have sold it much much sooner.

It made no odds to us really as we were not in a huge rush to sell and I think those people that don't lower their prices either are in the same boat, or literally can't.

Property where we have moved to (still in Wales) has been sitting on the market for months, some years! But they are all overpriced. I really don't know what the agents are playing at pricing things so high for them to just sit there.

I think people get told by the agents how much their house is 'worth' and then get fixated on getting that much for it. They need to do their own research and look at what property is actually selling for and not get so caught up on what the estate agent says. My DH was adamant our house was worth what the agent told us it was and felt like going lower we were 'giving the house away' and losing money. I think many people feel this way too.

I think we're all used to property increasing in value each year. The median I think is 5%.
Unfortunately post COVID things went up a lot especially in rural areas. Sadly some people including me paid too much.
What I had never experienced before was the lack of viewings. We have lived in 17 houses during are marriage and had never had a 'sticker'. Unfortunately we couldn't offer the house for what we paid four years ago. We needed our money out to downsize. Sadly due to ill health we became a mortgage prisoner. We'll rent it out through an agent for a number of years (We're not depriving a family as no one wanted it other than a hmo landlord) and try again if we get a new government.
We could really do with the equity but I can't see a sale happening unless our tenants want it.
Our economy relies on a healthy housing market and it's just not there at the moment.

Were outer London and houses are overpriced. The EAs say they can sell for £1.4m even when they need a lot of work. So the elderly owners believe them… and then they sit there refusing to accept lower offers for years. Eventually they sell for £1m after 1-2 years.

It’s s huge problem in that we understand high housing costs are an issue, but lower housing costs mean that house prices need to come down. That means that current home owners will see the value of their home not increase or decrease and folk either can’t afford to move for less or aren’t willing to loose money (even if that money is an unachievable valuation). I think we’ll see more houses sitting for longer because, as much as it’s needed, people can’t afford the market to correct itself.

Yes, definitely! That's why there are so many properties sitting on the market for years, slowly reducing.

Some sellers probably just can't afford to accept what their house is worth to a buyer. Particularly those who are moving to where there are more jobs, where property prices are typically way higher.

Many sellers are that delusional, yes, it is the result of years and years of brainwashing on TV etc.

Exactly, but isn"t the idea that a basic house in an area with no jobs will allow you to trade up to a more expensive more vibrant area a bit of a daft idea anyway?

Everybody involved in the housing market already lives somewhere, there is no desperate need for most people to buy a house, the market will eventually be moved by a combination of the Three D"s and the bond market, the Big B.

Our area (out West of London) seems on the money, houses typically sell in 2-4 weeks. But where we're looking at (Yorkshire) is really weird. We've been looking for a year and won't move for another 9 months, and we've seen one drop by 25% in 6 months, and another not change on a full year (we found it has been like that for 18 months actually). Quite a few have dropped by 7-15%.

So we're hoping a couple that are currently out of our range stay as they are until we're ready and then drop, or accept our lower offer!

Surely estate agents must be sweating. They now have a portfolio of stock which is not making them any money. They are still pumping out reels and ads for these overpriced homes. Eventually the penny has to drop, these houses are not going to sell.

Why do you think that it’s down to estate agents? Most people can’t afford to move unless they achieve a certain price for their property.

Why do you think that it’s down to estate agents? Most people can’t afford to move unless they achieve a certain price for their property.

Why do you think that it’s down to estate agents? Most people can’t afford to move unless they achieve a certain price for their property.

Sorry, glitchy app. Didn’t mean to repeat post!

Its all a bit fucko'd - you put huge percentage of income to mortgage (if youre lucky!) then a massive amount of (what should be) savings into structural repairs. And worry that your only investment will fall in value at the whim of govt, neighbours, pylons, subsidence, falling trees, whatever - because all your eggs are in one basket.

Or you pay toward a landlords mortgage by paying rent, and hope you can get onto the property owners treadmill.

EA"s have been going bust at a steady pace for some time now, there are far too many of them now for this stagnant market.

Same here in the north west. We’ve just had an offer accepted on a house, it was accepted and nearly 50k less than the person paid in 2022, which was 275k. So not a large asking price but it wasn’t moving, on the market over a year before our much reduced offer was accepted by them. They bought at a post Covid high and now the market is on a downturn!

I saw an end of terrace in Cowbridge online for £400k . It looked like a main road and right by a set of traffic lights.
I don’t know why anyone would pay that!

The gap is closing now on houses in other parts of the country and outer London. You can get a house in zone 5 now for £350k with all of the opportunities London brings.