UK Property Market Stagnating

[Russethouse]

Let's create a ghetto - why not ?[6]

What are your nightmares like [:)]

A house I pass every day went on the market yesterday - the last house sold in the same street  had the For Sale sign changed for Sold within 2 weeks, so mindfull of this thread I'm keeping an eye on it. I know the asking price and have a regular mailing that is based on Land Registry information, so eventually the price achieved will become apparent.......

 

[Patf]

Gastines - our problems with the Halifax were not over money (that was with N Rock.) When we moved here I informed them and asked confirmation that we could let out the house. This was given, then last year they denied knowledge of this. After various letters, sorted. I think these problems are compounded by being in France. It's much better to actually go into the office with all the papers and speak to someone.

[woody234]

well i think the uk property market is slowing down because the banks are not lending to as many people  (ie the first time buyers) as they did which means the others (people with a house already) cannot sell there house and move up or abroad, but if the others dropped the price would they find a buyer

[dexter]

Dropped my price by £20,000 and offering to pay the stamp duty so in effect dropped by nearly £28,000. I`ve now had one viewing in six months. I dont know how difficult it is to get a mortgage at the moment because when/if I sell the intention is to move to France and buy a property outright. That being said, the house I nearly bought in November is still on the market but with the dire exchange rate at the moment it`s gone up £12,000 since January! So thats a £40,000 loss in six months!

Perhaps if the BBC and ITV kept their mouths shut for a while rather than scare mongering at every opportunity about the financial situation, (`if you`ve got any worries about how the credit crunch will affect you then go to our web site`) then maybe people will make up their own minds and enquire for themselves rather than nailing their front doors shut and sheltering under the kitchen table! 

However, If you want to make a quick buck or two buying and selling property then watch the BBC between 9 and 11.30am each weekday and see the repeats of Homes under the Hammer etc!

Cheesed off in Rossendale.    

[nectarine]

I agree with Dexter on this ..... we've been for sale for six months but the viewings are tailing off and there's been a few no-shows.  Despite dropping the price by £35K before Xmas, the agents now advise us to drop it again.  However, I remind them frequently that the price of our 4 bed house is now the same as that of the 3-beds for sale, so we're the best value around.  The agents (we have two) just want a sale to get their commission, I think, at any price.  We're lucky, in no desperation to sale.  No mortgages and our new home in France is paid for, so it's a matter of sitting tight and getting a fair price, rather than giving the house away.  The agents say that buyers now feel that they can make cheeky offers, say 20% less than the asking price, and some expect to get that accepted.  I suppose it depends on how desperate you are to sell but we're just not going to play that game.

There's a general air of panic and the newspapers and television have got their teeth into it, it's like some kind of mad bandwagon.  They say it is to do with the stoppage of 100% mortgages.  I've always thought 100% mortgages were a bad thing - if you haven't got the discipline or financial resources to get together any kind of deposit, however meagre, then how the heck are you going to suddenly pull your socks up to take on an unforgiving 25 year loan which demands the first chunk from your salary every month?  But Dexter's right - the doom and gloom continue in the news but there's still Property Ladder and Homes Under The Hammer on the telly advising you to make a quick buck!

 

[Russethouse]

It might not be quick but my guess is that in a a decade we may think the prices of last year quite reasonable, so if you can buy now at a good rate, hang on and in the meantime improve, you may make a good return.........

I guess every cloud has a silver lining - if people can't get mortgages they will want to rent...here there seems to be a glut of property to let......but that may not be typical

[Gastines]

What is happening now to UK prices reminds me of theearly 90's. on a 3rd move bought a flat for £57k,spent 4weeks re-furbing,re-wire/plumb new kitchen/ &bathroom carpets/tiles etc. had an offer 2days after we put it on the market for£94k, lady couldn't sell her place,prices dropping like a stone. eventually sold it ONE YEAR later for £59k but   the house we bought was £145K,was taken back by bank,empty for 3 years and we bought for £87K. Basically if yours goes down so does what your buying,in most areas. The problem at the moment is worse if you are relying on the equity you have in that house to invest or live on in your retirement. It's all a game manipulated by the big boys.Funnily enough the house we bought for £87K we did a fair bit of work on and sold for £165K,it's been on the market for the last 6 months at £445K.!!! That's in about 6 years!!!

You win some and lose some.Hindsight is no use to anyone.

Regards.

[woody234]

gastines im a bit lost on the bit that says  "the house we brought for 145k was taken back by the bank, empty for 3 years and we brought it for 87k"    did you get it for 145k  or  87k and why was it empty for 3 years

[Gastines]

Sorry Woody 234. I got a bit lost there. The house had been repossesed by the bank 3 years previously. It was marketed by the bank for £145K,dropped to £125 K and then £105K. By this time it was very difficult to get through the trees/bushes to the front door. My wife: the brains in the family I have to admit:: made an offer of £85K which the agent didn't want to forward,However he did followed by a swift NO. She upped the offer to £86K,followed by a swift NO. She offered a final,cash in hand offer of £87K. Accepted. After we got the Deeds we found out that we also owned a path at the rear of the house,giving access to a cul-de-sac with LOADS of parking.The agent had been unaware of this.

When I have a week to spare I will tell you how I went to work on a Monday to a site in London from our flat and returned to this house on a Friday, my wife having sold the flat and completed on this house in 5 days.!!!!

Regards.

[woody234]

I see now, 87k is alot better than paying 145k, I suppose its all down to the situation of the seller

[Benjamin]

The news doesn't get any better. According to the Nationwide Price House Survey for July there has beeen a monthly fall in prices of 1.7% and an annual fall of 8.1% which seems to indicate an escalation in the rate of fall.

Also on this morning's BBCi there was a piece which I can't now find and therefore I can't quote the source but the number of house build starts in the next 12 months is expected to be the lowest since 1924.

[Val_2]

My sister and BIL were cash buyers last summer with a budget of £600k to spend.They found one house they liked and the owners were desperate to sell but there was no double glazing or central heating in the house which was built in the 1970's so BIL offered £10k less than the asking price for which they flatly refused to accept on a sale of nearly that £600k.They then found another property,this time a bungalow and offered the asking price as it was perfect. All went to plan until the day of the signing of the contracts and the seller pulled out because he suddenly didn't want to leave his house. My sister and BIL did eventually find a suitable house just before xmas and are now happily settled. Last week in the estate agent's window for the first two properties they saw both houses STILL for sale and both had dropped over £50k. Just shows how greedy people really are and serves them both right for not taking a good offer in the first place.

[Panda]

In the area I came over from, the Cotswolds, I recently notiiced a house for sale for 50k less that it sold for 5 years ago, all this and it did not reach it's reserve when the owners took the auction route.  This is a pretty cotswold stone cottage in a lovely village, something that would have gone in a day 5 years ago.  When I sold my property which was of a similar type and setting, I had 21 viewings in 6 days and received numerous offers.  It's all very different now.

[johnnyboy]

We live in East Grinstead and loads of houses for sale round the town,just not many being sold though.

Ours went on the market in April and viewing within 2 hours of going live with agents.Needless to say that came to nought,as did the next four in three weeks.Net result of racing the market down by nearly 10 % on our asking price is that we have withdrawn from the market after no interest for the last 5 weeks at all!

Agent tried his best to talk us out of this obviously and although feeling sorry for him,we felt that it would just become stale if left on market indefinitely.

What a difference a year makes eh??This time last year I tried to get OH interested in selling up and renting until we could make the final plunge and live in our place in France when it was ready.Figures all looked good then,what a sorry tale they tell now though.

Oh well,just have to soldier on here for time being I guess! Its not my time to retire just yet!![:(]

Johnnyboy

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Panda,

I lived in Stow on the Wold and in our little street of about 12 houses only 2 were occupied full time -- the rest were holiday homes and a couple of gites.

I'd guess that the uncertainty in the economy and the general state of the credit market makes it much less likely that people will take on places like that.

[Panda]

Ahh, Stow know it well, being a horsey type, bet you locals hated the traffic and general disruption that came with it!

 

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

Albert,

Ssh! Don't tell all those French gite owning people ....... I think you and I might have found something profitable for these cash strapped times:

"I lived in Stow on the Wold and in our little street of about 12 houses only 2 were occupied full time -- the rest were holiday homes and a couple of gites."

You could offer British families proper gite holidays but with a big saving on fuel and especially channel ferry costs. A lot of the renters would find that the locals speak a sort of English too.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

If you mean the Horse Fair, it wasn't a problem. I'm related to some of the traders & dealers. We took my dad along once and he spent a while rockering with some of his old mushes.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

[quote user="Nearly Retired"]

Albert,

Ssh! Don't tell all those French gite owning people ....... I think you and I might have found something profitable for these cash strapped times:

"I lived in Stow on the Wold and in our little street of about 12 houses only 2 were occupied full time -- the rest were holiday homes and a couple of gites."

You could offer British families proper gite holidays but with a big saving on fuel and especially channel ferry costs. A lot of the renters would find that the locals speak a sort of English too.

[/quote]

Gad, sir! I'm going native!

[woody234]

they say the housing market hasent been this bad since 1924, is it because there is to much supply or is it because the banks are not giving people mortgages so it doesnt matter how much a house is for sale, if people cannot get a mortgage then they cannot buy the property