Are houses selling?
Discussion
Europa1 said:
Here in Cambridge the property market still seems to be in very rude health.
Yeah, I noticed the Sunday Times recently reported that Cambridge even bettered London in terms of the price increase since the pre-crash (2007/2008) peak, and prices were up something like 45%.What's the reason behind that do you think?
Rangeroverover said:
I'm an agent, many houses stay on the market as they are over priced, what usually happens is
Agent 1: In his heart of hearts he thinks its worth £450, he knows that two other agents will be pitching on it and he also knows that most householders will always go with the person who dreams up the biggest valuation. So he goes £475,000
Is he not making a rod for his own back by doing so?Agent 1: In his heart of hearts he thinks its worth £450, he knows that two other agents will be pitching on it and he also knows that most householders will always go with the person who dreams up the biggest valuation. So he goes £475,000
i.e. client now expects £475k when agent (who likely knows better) thinks only worth £450k.
House goeson market and doesn't achieve £475k and then clients blames agent (understandably, as he said £475k)
rufusgti said:
blade7 said:
What's the chances of a US subprime situation...
I think the banks are much more careful now. I can't see there being much of a problem. Sure, some are over leveraged but it's not like what was happening in the US. I think. The main thing is over leveraged borrowers are much more likely to know they are in a high risk position now. The reason I think this is that I have recently (April) swapped mortgages on my main residence and they ask a lot of questions now. If they're not happy you're not getting the mortgage. Anyone in a vulnerable position will have understanding of the reasons why.After 2008 the regulators started making the banks think much harder about loan to value metrics (and prove that they were applying the new rules).
More recently they've started enforcing very detailed affordability checks.
So new lending, certainly, on private mortgages, looks pretty clean to me.
There may well, of course be historic loans maturing which become much pricier to re-finance which will put some people in a tricky spot. The banks will always provide a loan but if that particular load triggers the new risk metrics the price may be much much higher than before.
Problems, IMHO, are more likely to come from the BTL space where the checks are still pretty basic and where some people have built up very large portfolios on huge LTV multiples - it doesn't take much to put some of those folks underwater.
purely for your entertainment, I'll share my tale: My neighbour- 2 doors down put their house for sale.
£425k. It sold for £395k. Nothing unusual about that: except this is in Bradford........... and oh boy have there been some threads about Bradford over the years on PH ! Me often contributing to them !
Friends have just moved out (say about 1.5 miles away) from our spot because £300k wouldn't buy them a decent 4 bed. They bought a stunning 6 bed mid terrace ( I guess very london style) for about £280k nearish instead, but it needs lots of work. I don't like it as there is obviously no garden or parking. Their old house went in about 8 weeks.
Funnily enough- decent houses in very decent areas seem to be very sought after and selling well. And thats my thoughts from the grim northern, smoke filled city !
£425k. It sold for £395k. Nothing unusual about that: except this is in Bradford........... and oh boy have there been some threads about Bradford over the years on PH ! Me often contributing to them !
Friends have just moved out (say about 1.5 miles away) from our spot because £300k wouldn't buy them a decent 4 bed. They bought a stunning 6 bed mid terrace ( I guess very london style) for about £280k nearish instead, but it needs lots of work. I don't like it as there is obviously no garden or parking. Their old house went in about 8 weeks.
Funnily enough- decent houses in very decent areas seem to be very sought after and selling well. And thats my thoughts from the grim northern, smoke filled city !
AC43 said:
Problems, IMHO, are more likely to come from the BTL space where the checks are still pretty basic and where some people have built up very large portfolios on huge LTV multiples - it doesn't take much to put some of those folks underwater.
monthefish said:
Is he not making a rod for his own back by doing so?
i.e. client now expects £475k when agent (who likely knows better) thinks only worth £450k.
House goeson market and doesn't achieve £475k and then clients blames agent (understandably, as he said £475k)
Some Estate Agents give their staff a bonus for getting a vendor to reduce the price, a model some use is get the deal at any price and then manage the vendors expectation once they have them tied into a six month contracti.e. client now expects £475k when agent (who likely knows better) thinks only worth £450k.
House goeson market and doesn't achieve £475k and then clients blames agent (understandably, as he said £475k)
Rangeroverover said:
Some Estate Agents give their staff a bonus for getting a vendor to reduce the price, a model some use is get the deal at any price and then manage the vendors expectation once they have them tied into a six month contract
I'd say this is far and away the most common method employed by the vast majority of EA's rather than a model used by just 'some'.One thing I'm noticing is a lot of sales seem to be falling through at the moment. About half of the houses which sell are coming back on the market a few weeks later. I don't know whether it's buyers getting cold feet, sellers regretting selling at a discount, mortgage applications failing affordability tests or whatever else, but it certainly seems an abnormal number of properties are switching back and forth between "Sold STC" and "For Sale" signs in the front garden recently.
.Timberwolf said:
One thing I'm noticing is a lot of sales seem to be falling through at the moment. About half of the houses which sell are coming back on the market a few weeks later. I don't know whether it's buyers getting cold feet, sellers regretting selling at a discount, mortgage applications failing affordability tests or whatever else, but it certainly seems an abnormal number of properties are switching back and forth between "Sold STC" and "For Sale" signs in the front garden recently.
I've just had a look around my way on Rightmove and I've seen a few which are for sale which were SSTC not very long ago. Prices also seem to have dipped; houses which were being listed at £450k-ish a few months back are sub-£400k now.monthefish said:
Europa1 said:
Here in Cambridge the property market still seems to be in very rude health.
Yeah, I noticed the Sunday Times recently reported that Cambridge even bettered London in terms of the price increase since the pre-crash (2007/2008) peak, and prices were up something like 45%.What's the reason behind that do you think?
Where I live which is out of the city had generally not gone up by much (or down) since about 2000 but since 2010 or so has gone crazy.
Ben
South Wales market appears slow.
We bought 12 months ago, a house that had been on market for quite a while and dropped in price.
House across the street has been on market since we moved in (and previously before renovation) and another house down the street has been for sale for a couple of months now.
All these houses are near top end of the local market (there are 90k houses around the corner), but we've seen little activity at either house.
We bought 12 months ago, a house that had been on market for quite a while and dropped in price.
House across the street has been on market since we moved in (and previously before renovation) and another house down the street has been for sale for a couple of months now.
All these houses are near top end of the local market (there are 90k houses around the corner), but we've seen little activity at either house.
BigBen said:
monthefish said:
Europa1 said:
Here in Cambridge the property market still seems to be in very rude health.
Yeah, I noticed the Sunday Times recently reported that Cambridge even bettered London in terms of the price increase since the pre-crash (2007/2008) peak, and prices were up something like 45%.What's the reason behind that do you think?
Where I live which is out of the city had generally not gone up by much (or down) since about 2000 but since 2010 or so has gone crazy.
Ben
AC43 said:
BigBen said:
monthefish said:
Europa1 said:
Here in Cambridge the property market still seems to be in very rude health.
Yeah, I noticed the Sunday Times recently reported that Cambridge even bettered London in terms of the price increase since the pre-crash (2007/2008) peak, and prices were up something like 45%.What's the reason behind that do you think?
Where I live which is out of the city had generally not gone up by much (or down) since about 2000 but since 2010 or so has gone crazy.
Ben
Same for Oxford - now less affordable than Greater London, average house price is c. 16x average salary.
Highway Star said:
AC43 said:
BigBen said:
monthefish said:
Europa1 said:
Here in Cambridge the property market still seems to be in very rude health.
Yeah, I noticed the Sunday Times recently reported that Cambridge even bettered London in terms of the price increase since the pre-crash (2007/2008) peak, and prices were up something like 45%.What's the reason behind that do you think?
Where I live which is out of the city had generally not gone up by much (or down) since about 2000 but since 2010 or so has gone crazy.
Ben
Same for Oxford - now less affordable than Greater London, average house price is c. 16x average salary.
Some stuff is still selling where I am in Kingston/Surbiton area from what I see, but I think its cooling. That doesn't stop the odd thing coming on for pure comedy money.
A house a few doors down has just come on at £1.15m despite the most expensive house on the road before that selling for about 900, which was detached (other is a semi) and in great shape. f
king nuts.
A house a few doors down has just come on at £1.15m despite the most expensive house on the road before that selling for about 900, which was detached (other is a semi) and in great shape. f
king nuts.BigBen said:
Cambridge employment is largely based on high tech companies which were largely unaffected by the 2007/8 downturn and have grown massively. Further to that AstraZenica is moving its world HQ here which is the first time the city has allowed a big company HQ to be here, this in itself has lead to many thousands of families moving to the area.
Where I live which is out of the city had generally not gone up by much (or down) since about 2000 but since 2010 or so has gone crazy.
Ben
I sold a house last year on the edge of Willingham (About 6 miles NW of Cambridge) which was within walking distance of the guided bus route. It went on the market at £250k on a Saturday afternoon. On the Sunday we had people knocking on the door asking to have a look around. By the end of the following week we had had something like 40 viewings and 12 asking price offers and it ended up going for £278K, an increase of nearly 80% over the price I paid 5 years earlier. Utterly bonkers!Where I live which is out of the city had generally not gone up by much (or down) since about 2000 but since 2010 or so has gone crazy.
Ben
The right houses always sell REALLY quickly almost regardless. Took me a year to find our house, and when I did I knew Id be able to sell in at the drop of a hat because it has almost no negatives and others like it would also sell in heart beat. I have no idea why people buy ugly houses, those with north facing gardens, those with postage stamp gardens or no parking etc etc. These are things you cant change, everything else can be fixed.
Flooble said:
And abysmal transport with the council thinking everyone should cycle to work (A14 a nightmare), so people are forced to live locally rather than commute in.
15 miles down the A14 in Huntingdon Estate Agents think little detached houses crammed together on tiny plots are worth £400k. Tossers.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff