Are vendors actually lowering their prices in your area?

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Here its impossible to work out what a house is worth. Most vendors don't seem to be dropping their price (from top of the market prices) or if they do drop the price its by about five per cent. Is this the same everywhere?

Holding their value does not mean no change in price, just falling by a lesser percentage than smaller houses.

I do hope you are right, Sorrento. I am looking to upgrade in the medium term.

My mum has just put her house on the market. The estate agent advised keeping the listing price high, to expect lower offers. It's all smoke and mirrors - you are made to feel that you have a bargain if you get below asking. It also protects the seller - if she put it on at what she would be happy to get, she'd get offers below in this climate.

Be bold with your offers I suppose....

But does it protect the sellers or does it mean nobody bothers to view it ?
I know lots of people that say they wouldn't have the nerve to make an offer even 10% less because they feel it's being rude and so would never even look at the house.
I am trying to re educate them though, if you aren't embarrassed by your offer, it's too high

I'm not sure - mum's has been on the market only 2 days and she's had one viewing and is having an open day next week. I think it's up the the estate agents in this current climate to guide buyers and sellers alike. I mean, they want to make the sale and they know what will get people through the door (presumably!).

We looked well outside of our price range when we looked at both properties we have owned in London, and in the end, went to sealed bids on both properties and ended up paying OVER the asking price...

But that was 2 years ago and 4 years ago respectively....Both clearly case of Estate Agents underestimating the market value of both houses. Which is quite unusual I think.

I think looking at asking prices is a bit deceptive because as somebody said below, buyers are expecting huge disounts so sellers are scared that if they put their house on at a reasonable price then buyers will try to knock them down even further.

Lookng at the prices houses have actually sold at would be a better measure, but you normally can't find that out until a few months later.

trixy is right - that is the case these days. Not long ago - maybe 2 years - people were expecting the asking price to be the starting price in some parts of the country.

But that's the job of the estate agent to manage both sides of the transaction, god forbid they should actually earn their commission, it must be coming as quite a shock to some of them having to like negotiate a deal and then manage the process.

sycamoretree - thats exactly my situation with the estate agents apart from my house has been on for nearly 8 months now and i've not had a single viewer... lowered price by £15k yesterday though so hoping that might attract someone to at least have a look!!

I recently advertised mine for about 130k, knowing I would be knocked down. Eventually accepted 119k for it. I was considering lowering the price before I had the offer, but was worried that people would still try to knock a lot off it.
Its a balancing act between pricing low enough to be getting people through the door, but not so low they will knwock you right down..
Other houses are advertised at about my price in my area and have been on the market for months - some over a year - so they are clearly priced too high.

Surely potential buyers will view an asking price in relation to 'top of the market' and then decide whether it is realistic. There is so much information readily available now. I'd be straight onto nethouseprices.com or similar to check the sold prices. What I can't be bothered with is trying to decide which vendors are prepared to wipe a sizeable amount from the asking price and which still have fingers in their ears, singing 'La, La, La'. Much better if they just price appropriately and then refuse to budge from that position, pointing to evidence that it is already much lower than it would have been a year or two ago.

I'm not sure potential buyers are that savy hence we're in this mess, the majority seem to just do what financial advisors/mortgage brokers and estate agents tell them.

not much round here.

and as a result, not much is selling.

property is a commodity, but it's going to take a huge paradigm shift for most people to realise that as an investment vehicle it's only worth what people are willing and able to pay for it.

unfortunately, the government isn't helping matters by continually bailing out mortgage holders, mostly at the expense of savers.

Well we bought in October at a massively lower price than they were the previous year in this road.Over 30% less than the last one that sold here and its in the catchmnet for great schools etc.the agent advised the seller to take our offer and didn't even try to get more.I think you only find these things out when you get an actual offer asking prices mean nothing atm

I have been told by a friend who has to sell that agent told her people are putting their houses on the market at usual prices for the area but accepting massively lower price where we are. Time will tell if this is true now we can all look up how much a property sold for, but nothing is moving here.

There is practically nothing decent for sale round here (South Hampshire).

I know several people who sold their houses last year and are now renting in the hope of swooping on a bigger property once prices have fallen. But so many people seem to be doing this, that their plans are going awry (mean emoticon).

And there are still lots of people coming out of London with cash as well.

We sold our house and left London in August and we are renting in Rugby. Ironically it's now cheaper to move back to London, prices have crashed there. The problem in Rugby is that the four bed detached houses are owned by downsizers who are prepared to hold on till they die (one owner was 87!)to get as close as possible to ridiculous asking price. There is a posh agent in town that is overpricing everything, it's so crazy the houses they are selling are 30% more than last year's prices. There is a huge gap between semis and detached here (pay double for detached) as this agent has all the best houses on their books. The irony is that the downsizers' houses look good from the outside and need complete refurbishment (one of this grand properties did smell of pee and the bathroom was 20 years old). We are looking in other towns now. We went to see a house in Kettering and the agent told us they were separating, as a hint that they were desperate. I was not best pleased with it and luckily we didn't like the house, I want to buy a house that is reasonably priced, a house for keeps, I am not a vulture!

Update, agent came back to my partner saying that owners of pee-smelling house would accept 10 per cent less than inflated asking price. Partner emailed back that he can offer around 30 per cent off considering the condition (needing total refurbishment) and the fact he is a cash buyer. I am not holding my breath, that agent is simply evil and are convincing owners they can get far more money than 2007-2008 prices for their houses. They have so ruined the local market other agents 'hate' them.