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.

I moved to this cul de sac in Surrey in peak 2022 and still get the Rightmove alerts so follow the market.

Seems as though prices are pretty much the same as 2022 but sales are slower. There is probably more demand and more money here than in Wales but things still stick for ages.

It currently looks as though there is something wrong with our road as there are four identical 3 bed houses for sale. There were three which have been on for 600 for many months. One sold then fell through. My neighbour has now gone on. Said she felt confident as hers is cheaper. 575. But hers is the worst maintained one and has no garage!

Anyway agree with PP. None of the people in my road really need to sell. Either downsizing or moving up and can wait. I’m interested to see who will crack first and be brave enough to go under the 2022 price to sell!

My next door neighbour has his on for almost £250,000 and it needs some serious work. My house (not bragging) is a lot nicer inside and better layout with more bedrooms and bathrooms would make 260K but not much more. It's been on the market for months they've had no interest not even one viewing.

I told an estate agent that we couldn’t afford the overpriced one that’s the next step up - 550k, needs loads of work, no garage. It had been on at 650k so not sure how low an offer they’d take. He told me to just overvalue ours. I know this area and there is no way a small end of terrace will go for 450k. 340k at a push. It’s insane.

That's really poor advice from the estate agent. Are these houses that are the next step up from yours selling at 650k or are they just sitting on the market for ages?

Higher interest rates means paying a lot more for your property which makes today’s prices unaffordable to many. Plus a lot of more recent buyers haven’t built up loads of equity like they did in the past to facilitate a move. The market still hasn’t caught up with the new reality.

Just sitting there. The one we want to buy has been on and off with different agents for years.

It doesn't sound as if that particular owner needs to sell quickly and also as if the agents are over valuing everything. Perhaps they don't value their own jobs!

My impression was that estate agents are being fairly cautious in their valuations at the moment. Yes the market is slowish, but things do seem to be moving and it seems to be picking up a little around here. Our location is semi-rural and I think a lot of people still see the benefits over the suburbs or city centre locations (though of course they both have their own benefits depending what you need and want).

Large gardens seem to do particularly well and I think part of that is that everywhere is always so crowded nowadays that having plenty of your own private space maybe seems more important.

Here in North Pembrokeshire in West Wales the same is happening. The market is stagnant and has been for about 4 years now. Less so the types of houses that locals can afford to buy, there are still houses selling in the up to £250-300k bracket, albeit for less than the asking price. Certainly the houses above £4-500k are massively overpriced and aren't selling. There must be 10 sellers chasing every buyer at least. What does sell is usually for way below the asking price. But in terms of pricing there still there seems to be a "we'll stick it on for what we might have got in 2022 and hope that a Londoner with more money than sense" will buy it. The result is houses being on the market for YEARS. Those that need to sell do so only be reducing the price 20-30%

There seems to be lots of potential buyers around telling sellers to lower their prices? If the properties are not selling and the seller wants out then they can always drop their price, or the buyer could raise their offer?
Is this not market economics? Round here well kept property in good locations seems to be selling at asking price.

@sbplanet We're an hour from London. Smart market town nearby and grotty old industrial town the other side. I was told earlier in the year to sell for what I paid in 2023. We've updated bathrooms and a general makeover. However the same agent sold two huge houses on our development a couple of months later, the three smaller ones have stuck. Why? No idea.
Their not getting viewings but we didn't either.
We've had many offers for rent as there's such a shortage. We also have a new development a mile from us offering stamp duty paid.

I reduced our house by 15% but it didn't sell. I've never been in that position before but it looks like it's a nationwide thing.

The huge houses sold, so not all the market? It's difficult to know exactly what's happening isn't it. But the 'everything is being over-valued' meme is a bit useless really.
I don't know if we'll see a bit of a pick-up soon as the mortgage broker I spoke with says he's 'booked up' and the photographer taking house pictures said similar.
I'd say things seems very slow atm, but slow to intermittent as things are selling. But to just say, ask for less, doesn't cut it imho.
Good luck with your sale. :)

Certainly the same in London where I am. Prices have dropped but people haven't adjusted expectations. It's a shame as some won't get what they paid back. Our neighbour dropped asking Prince by £200k ( 800- 600)

The seller often has an inflated view of the value and needs that amount for their next purchase, the EA only has so much say in the price and at the end of the day has to do what the seller wants so it could be the EAs or it could just be sellers seeing the price for other houses and pitching theirs the same.

It would all be easier if there was a big meeting and everyone agreed to reduce everything by 15% to get things moving again. But only the forced sellers are doing that. And everyone else sits tight and waits.
Been here before in the late 80s!

I find Charlie Lamdin quite good on this subject
m.youtube.com/@MovingHomewithCharlie/featured

We sold a detached two bed converted agricultural building in Wales (rural Carmarthenshire) in 2024. We'd purchased in early 2018, did a full renovation from a tatty rental to high end finishes including new heating system, rewire, kitchen involving removal of load bearing walls/adding steels, bathroom, fully landscaping a 0.5 acre garden.

The valuations we had were crazy - we've sold several 'unique' properties (in England) before so appreciate how difficult it is to pitch the price correctly - with 200k between the highest and lowest. We went mid range as we wanted to sell fairly quickly but needed sufficient £££ to enable us to move back to the south coast of England.

Virtually every house we've previously sold (across several UK counties) have gone under offer in less than six weeks. This one took six months, then a further four months to complete. We sold for 8% under asking price.

If we'd waited much longer we might have struggled and certainly would've had to accept a lower offer. However, friends in Pembrokeshire sold their almost new build very fast in Spring 2025...imo because they knew to price realistically.

That is a nice discount! Hopefully this starts to happen more and more.

They have very little to lose by over valuing, plus they play down the cost of any work needed.

It’s very different depending on where you are, my dd has been outbid on 3 properties so far despite offering over the asking price, not wales but not an affluent area, local market to her is very strong

The problem is that 15% is just the froth on the top of the froth, this is the biggest property bubble in history, to correct to where interest rates are and are probably going you are looking at much bigger value drops than 15%, that is already normal as an under asking price offer anyway I should think?

If they overvalue too much they get no sales then they go bust, that is quite a lot to lose?

https://www.cityam.com/real-estate-firms-going-bust-at-record-rate-as-property-market-slumps/

I just got my daily "on the market" email, 1 new property and 4 price reductions.

Meanwhile our area is holding at the same price as 18 months ago, and still selling.

Yes I agree. Maybe 15% off realistic valuations!

I wrote about the four near identical houses on my Surrey street all just sitting there at 600. The one that did go under offer. Was best position, best garden and new kitchen and bathroom. Sale failed because new buyers couldn’t get the mortgage valuation. The vendors had an offer in on a beautiful house in Wales for 700. So that failed.

I have three young adults and two earn enough for a 1 bed flat but they’re too nervous of additional costs around leaseholds and service charges and the falling market so they’re all still at home.

I guess we all have local anecdotes to illustrate what’s happening. I also have an annoying colleague with four BTLs that never stops moaning about new rental regulations and wants to get out but can’t sell. He’s pissed off that nobody wants to buy his flats with tenants in situ for what he wants for them. Didn’t want to end their tenancies as he needs the money to send his DC to private school.

I'm going to add the employment situation to this. The high earners on £150k+ are not getting new jobs. If you're over fifty at this level you may be waiting for a full time job for some time.
It used to take about six months to swop companies, but now at least a year. I have two unemployed friends in this bracket. One was a redundancy.
They could afford £600k+ houses but not now. Slightly too young to access pensions and still have university DC. They're sitting tight because they don't have the income to change their mortgages. If they're had a repayment holiday for redundancy their credit file will be trashed (that happened to me for ill health).

What I've learnt is the big modern houses have a new house premium and then they stick. Period cottages are still selling in our location but 'secondhand' executive homes are not unless they've been updated extensively. We're south, one hour to London.