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Original poster

Those in the know about all things to do with housing market.....

79 replies

dinny · 07/11/2008 14:07

Noddyholder (haven't seem you around for a bit actually), Expat ....etc etc

do you think the market will continue to fall despite the interest rate cut?

will it have a bit of a boom now because of it?

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Original poster
dinny · 07/11/2008 19:12

wherabouts in the country are you, hf128219?

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hf128219 · 07/11/2008 19:18

Surrey.

pinner4 · 07/11/2008 19:33

people find the interest cut, the millions of pounds of help given if you loose your savings,making the banks more difficult to reposses your home.........all sounds great, if you don't think about nothing else, in a shelfish way.
How on earth is going the governemt,(US, taxpayers)pay for all that? Borrowing a crazy amount of money, so nothing is free, tough times are around the conner........and we'll pay for that, indeed!
So nothing will be learned, people will carry on spending money don't have, "The governement'll pay for us, I can put my money in a doggy foreing account not caring for garanties, researching who they are, 'cause the gov. will give me money back, etc.......WE 'll pay for the irresponsible behaviour of Irresponsible people, nobody gives nothing for free........
First reaction in people"I'll spend more money now, do more shopping" What about saving??

Takver · 07/11/2008 19:35

But do you think people will really sell for 450K hf?

We are looking at places that have been on the market for months (well over a year in some cases) and the prices are just not dropping. I think that often the owners bought for the high price and cannot afford to take less.

If houses really did drop 30% we would be able to afford to buy somewhere, but where we are there just don't seem to be any real reductions, things are just sitting on the market instead.

Also, while we are getting expert opinions, what do people think will happen with holiday homes? We are on the coast, and 30% + of houses in are nearest town are 2nd homes - if people start to have to sell these, then hopefully everything would become a lot more affordable. Or are the sort of people who can afford a 2nd home not going to feel the pinch whatever?

(And yes, I do know that I am being awful hoping that people will be forced to sell, but the housing situation is appalling here, we are lucky in having a proper place to live here, so many of our friends are in caravans).

Original poster
dinny · 07/11/2008 19:41

hf128219, snap - thought so!!

the house we're looking at tomorrow has dropped 100k since April this year (in Surrey)

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Onlyaphase · 07/11/2008 19:42

Agree with Takver re prices not dropping as the vendors can't afford to drop the price.

We sold our house in Essex in April 07, 18 months later it is back on the market for 35% more then they paid for it. I am truly staggered by this, the new owners haven't actually done anything to justify the increase. I think they are expecting offers 25% below asking price, so pitching it this high means they might actually make some money.

Re holiday homes, I think that if they are good, desirable properties that can be let and make money during the holiday season, then they won't drop too far down. Properties that are blighted and overvalued, will drop.

Original poster
dinny · 07/11/2008 19:42

totally agree, Takvar, hope 2nd home owners are forced to sell - the place I'm originally from is SO expensive we have no chance of bringing up our children there (thanks to 2nd homeowners)

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Zahrah · 07/11/2008 19:43

bongo - two choices;

stay and ride the storm or sell and drop 40k off the asking price of the property that you are looking at.

hf128219 · 07/11/2008 19:46

Takver - where are you?

I think it's the 3 D's (Divorce, Debt and Death) that will force some people to sell.

It used to be the case that houses in prime areas (eg South East) rose about 8% per annum.

So say you bought in 2001 for £200K

The value should be:

216K in 2002
233K in 2003
252K in 2004
272K in 2005
299K in 2006
323K in 2007
348K in 2008

Somewhere in 2005 things went haywire with market valuations - and people got greedy.

I honestly think houses on at 450K are 100K overpriced.

sellorrenovate · 07/11/2008 19:47

hmmm....we have a sensibly priced (for the area!) victorian terrace on the market and would be delighted to actually receive an offer....any takers........... Financially we don't need to move, in fact we are desperate to upscale, but if we can't sell we can't move.

hf128219 · 07/11/2008 19:49

dinny - I am in Woking. Where are you?

sellorrenovate · 07/11/2008 19:51

...to be honest we could "afford" to take a really large price drop (we bought a long time ago). But there again although we would like/need a bigger house we can wait. I suspect that is why a number of houses aren't shifting i.e. owner wants to move but doesn't actually "need" to in term of finace, job etc. Just a thought?

myredcardigan · 07/11/2008 19:56

Lots of people don't drop because they don't need to sell. They stay on the market for a while and if they have no interest they just take it back off.

I was talking to a friend today who is deperately waiting for the house she loves to drop in price. It's on at 600 and she's offered 520. They've said no twice. Her DH refuses to offer more in this market. AE has said the vendors want 570 and if they don't get it they'll just take the house off the market. She is seriously working on her hubbie to up their offer

sellorrenovate · 07/11/2008 19:58

Agree with myredcardigan - we're guilty as you describe. As per my MN name we're "testing the market" and if we don't get any interest within a couple of months we'll pull the house off the market and plough everything into a decent renovation.

hf128219 · 07/11/2008 20:00

This summer we viewed a house that had originally gone on at 630K, then 550K, then 499K.

To cut a long story short we had an offer of 487K accepted but we got cold feet and pulled out.

House was then reduced to 450K. We did nothing!

Lizzylou · 07/11/2008 20:00

I work in an Estate Agents on a Saturday and the only houses that are selling are repossessions (at £££'s below what a private individual would accept) and people who are realistic and can afford to drop the house by 10/15/20% in order to sell as they have enough equity and are buying on at the same reduced price.
The branch used to sell around 5/6 houses a week, they still sell 1/2 a week (bad week) sometimes 3/4. BUT we get all the reposessions for the area so there are a lot of investors circling.
This is NW, East Lancs.
I would sit it out for a few months, or make a cheeky offer. There are a lot of people selling up hoping to stave off repossession.

Takver · 07/11/2008 20:10

hf we are on the coast in wales - current 'going rate' for a house until the crash was basically £100K per bedroom, which given that there are very few jobs here paying over minimum wage means most people can't afford anything. We are lucky in that we have savings and are self employed, so I am not complaining, we are much better placed than most, but I can't help feeling a bit at houses that sit empty 50 weeks of the year. Its different where people rent them out, at least that brings work and money to the area.
I think like cardigan says a lot of people don't need to sell and will just wait out the crash.

Original poster
dinny · 07/11/2008 20:11

we're East Surrey, hf128219

but if the market falls, it's all relative - you won't need as much money to buy a bigger house

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hf128219 · 07/11/2008 20:21

Good! So you won't pinch my dream house when it comes up!

Original poster
dinny · 07/11/2008 20:29

really think tomorrow will be our dream one - looks sooooo nice

not that we can afford it at the price it's on for though!

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stickybun · 07/11/2008 22:23

We are in rented and looking to buy with no mortagage as sold previous house. Always said would not look before last qtr 09 - not because vulture but because there is a long way to go with the bigger economic picture (imho). A house came up that we quite liked (but not enough to view) rather ugly 4 bed but handy for work and good schools. This is in a market town and is no way posh - but when you think that the ave. wage is something like £25k, the £450k they're asking seems to illustrate the unsustainability of current prices. What we got for our house seemed silly too but it was what 'the market' dictated - now the market has changed and the bubble has popped but people need time to adjust to the reality of the new circs. At present not sitting smugly counting lolly but feel that the recent rate cut is an indicator of grimness to come. Altho want everything to get back to normal so we can find a buying house, am starting to think that being in rented is not so bad as it gives you a lot more flexibility to cope with what's headed our way sometime soon (e.g. can move or downsize if need to).

lalaa · 08/11/2008 11:47

some houses sell whatever the economic outlook. we put our house on at the end of july and it sold by end of august for 2.5% under the asking price. so i would say if you see a house you really like, you might want to get in there before someone else buys it.

i think our fast sale had a lot to do with location and realistic pricing. somebody offered us 12.5% under the asking price and we refused. The house sold the next week to our current buyers, and we've had 3 other sets of people since then who've arrived at the door (not appointments - just turned up!) who've basically said we'll buy it if your buyers pull out.

i know that we're bucking the trend, but i think it's worth saying that the general rule doesn't apply to everyone.

Original poster
dinny · 08/11/2008 11:49

we've just got back from a viewing - amazing location, nice house but just didn't have the right feel for us

another viewing tomorrow!

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Original poster
dinny · 08/11/2008 11:49

we've just got back from a viewing - amazing location, nice house but just didn't have the right feel for us

another viewing tomorrow!

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bongosmum · 08/11/2008 21:49

oh no! you had such high hopes!! good luck tomorrow.x