How Far Will House Prices Fall? [Volume 6]
Discussion
okgo said:
But now you’re just paying the difference in interest?
Best idea is just to buy a house when you can and need one.
My rent is a grand cheaper than my mortgage would be and I'd be tied in for 35 to 40 years so it makes sense at the moment just to wait and see for a bit. Best idea is just to buy a house when you can and need one.
plus I have just moved to the area so am not in an immediate rush as such.
soxboy said:
Not sure if this has been posted before but it gives a useful picture of the potential for crash and repossessions (or lack of)
https://residential.jll.co.uk/insights/research/jl...
I’m always wary of any forecasts made by people whose livelihoods depend on the sector they’re analysing. JLL are in property consultancy. Likewise for the forecasts on the car price thread made by auction houses, representatives of dealer groups etc. https://residential.jll.co.uk/insights/research/jl...
skwdenyer said:
brickwall said:
I don’t think we’ll see much “full fire sale”.
a) There won’t be masses in distress. Whilst a lot of people will see significant rate rises as fixes end, this is spread over a long period and the majority will have enough headroom in their income to cover it, especially if they extend the term.
b) Banks will try to avoid repossession if they can possibly do so. And in most cases there will be significant equity in the property.
The two big unknowns are
- How many people levered up and bought at the peak? They are most at risk. However they’re also the most likely to have a 5-year fix.
- What happens to the labour market? If it remains tight then people will keep their jobs and see 5% (close to inflation) pay rises over the next year or two - that will really help affordability. But if people start losing jobs then it’s a very different situation.
People only have headroom if they have a job, or maintain their income. If everyone tightens their belts (rising rates, inflation, mostly-below-inflation pay rises, etc) then consumer spending tanks, which in turn pulls down quite a lot of the economy.a) There won’t be masses in distress. Whilst a lot of people will see significant rate rises as fixes end, this is spread over a long period and the majority will have enough headroom in their income to cover it, especially if they extend the term.
b) Banks will try to avoid repossession if they can possibly do so. And in most cases there will be significant equity in the property.
The two big unknowns are
- How many people levered up and bought at the peak? They are most at risk. However they’re also the most likely to have a 5-year fix.
- What happens to the labour market? If it remains tight then people will keep their jobs and see 5% (close to inflation) pay rises over the next year or two - that will really help affordability. But if people start losing jobs then it’s a very different situation.
There are an awful lot of people who seem to think reduced consumer spending won’t impact the economy. It isn’t clear why this is.
- Firm margins are at an all-time high, it’s unclear that they would lay people off if it’s still profitable to keep them. Likewise pay rises.
- It will take time for any effects to feed through a particular industry. Add in the lag of rate rises on houses and it’s perfectly reasonable that the labour market remains relatively intact.
We're still looking to buy in Cheltenham, which seems relatively unaffected by any house price reductions.
I would be interested to see completion data in Cheltenham though, as it feels like there aren't as many sales. Problem being, a lot of the houses we want to look at are sales of choice/downsizes and the sellers aren't pressured to sell.
One house we like has been on the market for around 5 months for £1m. We'd be prepared to buy at 900k-925k which I feel is competitive.
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
Widening our search out to Cirencester and surrounds soon..
I would be interested to see completion data in Cheltenham though, as it feels like there aren't as many sales. Problem being, a lot of the houses we want to look at are sales of choice/downsizes and the sellers aren't pressured to sell.
One house we like has been on the market for around 5 months for £1m. We'd be prepared to buy at 900k-925k which I feel is competitive.
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
Widening our search out to Cirencester and surrounds soon..
brickwall said:
skwdenyer said:
brickwall said:
I don’t think we’ll see much “full fire sale”.
a) There won’t be masses in distress. Whilst a lot of people will see significant rate rises as fixes end, this is spread over a long period and the majority will have enough headroom in their income to cover it, especially if they extend the term.
b) Banks will try to avoid repossession if they can possibly do so. And in most cases there will be significant equity in the property.
The two big unknowns are
- How many people levered up and bought at the peak? They are most at risk. However they’re also the most likely to have a 5-year fix.
- What happens to the labour market? If it remains tight then people will keep their jobs and see 5% (close to inflation) pay rises over the next year or two - that will really help affordability. But if people start losing jobs then it’s a very different situation.
People only have headroom if they have a job, or maintain their income. If everyone tightens their belts (rising rates, inflation, mostly-below-inflation pay rises, etc) then consumer spending tanks, which in turn pulls down quite a lot of the economy.a) There won’t be masses in distress. Whilst a lot of people will see significant rate rises as fixes end, this is spread over a long period and the majority will have enough headroom in their income to cover it, especially if they extend the term.
b) Banks will try to avoid repossession if they can possibly do so. And in most cases there will be significant equity in the property.
The two big unknowns are
- How many people levered up and bought at the peak? They are most at risk. However they’re also the most likely to have a 5-year fix.
- What happens to the labour market? If it remains tight then people will keep their jobs and see 5% (close to inflation) pay rises over the next year or two - that will really help affordability. But if people start losing jobs then it’s a very different situation.
There are an awful lot of people who seem to think reduced consumer spending won’t impact the economy. It isn’t clear why this is.
- Firm margins are at an all-time high, it’s unclear that they would lay people off if it’s still profitable to keep them. Likewise pay rises.
- It will take time for any effects to feed through a particular industry. Add in the lag of rate rises on houses and it’s perfectly reasonable that the labour market remains relatively intact.
In both the UK and the EU, I'm seeing customers (retail businesses) going bankrupt; long-established independents hitting a hard and sudden stop. The rate of such closures is far higher than at any time in at least the last decade.
Keep an eye on insolvency stats - here, for instance: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/company-i...
Insolvencies in 2022 got very close to beating 2008; Q4/2022 was close to the highest in over 60 years (number, not as a proportion).
Meanwhile, bad news continues - see Tupperware's warning of collapse this morning, for instance, largely driven by debt servicing costs. There are a *lot* of firms with a *lot* of debt out there, egged-on by the shareholders, advisors and (in some cases) PE sector who've ladled more and more debt onto otherwise-healthy (then) firms in order to "be more capital efficient." As debt-servicing costs rise, and sales fall, this is a rather deadly pincer movement.
brickwall said:
FrankAbagnale said:
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
This seems completely mad from the vendor, or at the very least indicates they’re just flying a kite. skwdenyer said:
brickwall said:
skwdenyer said:
brickwall said:
I don’t think we’ll see much “full fire sale”.
a) There won’t be masses in distress. Whilst a lot of people will see significant rate rises as fixes end, this is spread over a long period and the majority will have enough headroom in their income to cover it, especially if they extend the term.
b) Banks will try to avoid repossession if they can possibly do so. And in most cases there will be significant equity in the property.
The two big unknowns are
- How many people levered up and bought at the peak? They are most at risk. However they’re also the most likely to have a 5-year fix.
- What happens to the labour market? If it remains tight then people will keep their jobs and see 5% (close to inflation) pay rises over the next year or two - that will really help affordability. But if people start losing jobs then it’s a very different situation.
People only have headroom if they have a job, or maintain their income. If everyone tightens their belts (rising rates, inflation, mostly-below-inflation pay rises, etc) then consumer spending tanks, which in turn pulls down quite a lot of the economy.a) There won’t be masses in distress. Whilst a lot of people will see significant rate rises as fixes end, this is spread over a long period and the majority will have enough headroom in their income to cover it, especially if they extend the term.
b) Banks will try to avoid repossession if they can possibly do so. And in most cases there will be significant equity in the property.
The two big unknowns are
- How many people levered up and bought at the peak? They are most at risk. However they’re also the most likely to have a 5-year fix.
- What happens to the labour market? If it remains tight then people will keep their jobs and see 5% (close to inflation) pay rises over the next year or two - that will really help affordability. But if people start losing jobs then it’s a very different situation.
There are an awful lot of people who seem to think reduced consumer spending won’t impact the economy. It isn’t clear why this is.
- Firm margins are at an all-time high, it’s unclear that they would lay people off if it’s still profitable to keep them. Likewise pay rises.
- It will take time for any effects to feed through a particular industry. Add in the lag of rate rises on houses and it’s perfectly reasonable that the labour market remains relatively intact.
In both the UK and the EU, I'm seeing customers (retail businesses) going bankrupt; long-established independents hitting a hard and sudden stop. The rate of such closures is far higher than at any time in at least the last decade.
Keep an eye on insolvency stats - here, for instance: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/company-i...
Insolvencies in 2022 got very close to beating 2008; Q4/2022 was close to the highest in over 60 years (number, not as a proportion).
Meanwhile, bad news continues - see Tupperware's warning of collapse this morning, for instance, largely driven by debt servicing costs. There are a *lot* of firms with a *lot* of debt out there, egged-on by the shareholders, advisors and (in some cases) PE sector who've ladled more and more debt onto otherwise-healthy (then) firms in order to "be more capital efficient." As debt-servicing costs rise, and sales fall, this is a rather deadly pincer movement.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-25...
https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf
I don’t disagree with you on debt servicing costs, especially in a PE environment.
However I’m not so bearish on the consequences of that - if the firms have underlying good prospects and solid EBITDA then the funds will likely pump a bit more equity in to deleverage the balance sheet rather than let it go bust. Diluting returns a little will in most cases be preferable to wiping out the equity. I think that’s especially true when the funds are sitting on masses of dry powder (as they are right now).
brickwall said:
I was looking at a few:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-25...
https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf
I don’t disagree with you on debt servicing costs, especially in a PE environment.
However I’m not so bearish on the consequences of that - if the firms have underlying good prospects and solid EBITDA then the funds will likely pump a bit more equity in to deleverage the balance sheet rather than let it go bust. Diluting returns a little will in most cases be preferable to wiping out the equity. I think that’s especially true when the funds are sitting on masses of dry powder (as they are right now).
It depends upon how effective the owners have been at extracting cash. Don't forget the highly-leveraged way many deals are done, with the debt ending up on the acquisition target's balance sheet; the owners / funds only have to get back their own cash stake in order to be up on the deal, which can happen in a very surprisingly short period of time. In that circumstance, why would they put cash back in?https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-25...
https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf
I don’t disagree with you on debt servicing costs, especially in a PE environment.
However I’m not so bearish on the consequences of that - if the firms have underlying good prospects and solid EBITDA then the funds will likely pump a bit more equity in to deleverage the balance sheet rather than let it go bust. Diluting returns a little will in most cases be preferable to wiping out the equity. I think that’s especially true when the funds are sitting on masses of dry powder (as they are right now).
Obviously every company, every deal is different; generalisations aren't always helpful. But I'm not at all comfortable with the level of insolvencies I'm seeing in my own customer base right now...
skwdenyer said:
Or they just don't need to sell in any hurry. I looked at a house in the Dales last year in a similar situation - had sat on the market for a year or so even then at a price too high even for the hot market last summer. Vendor had already moved to Spain for retirement, had no specific need for the money, and simply refused to entertain offers. Agents were actively putting potential buyers off (or at least being very clear up-front that offers wouldn't be entertained); in the end it swapped agents, and has dropped off the market (but I know not if it sold, or has simply been withdrawn for now)
If they’ve moved to Spain properly and taken residency, they’ll be in for a big shock with CGT if they sell their U.K. property within the next Spanish tax year. Would have thought that would have been a serious incentive to get it gone in swift time. Shnozz said:
skwdenyer said:
Or they just don't need to sell in any hurry. I looked at a house in the Dales last year in a similar situation - had sat on the market for a year or so even then at a price too high even for the hot market last summer. Vendor had already moved to Spain for retirement, had no specific need for the money, and simply refused to entertain offers. Agents were actively putting potential buyers off (or at least being very clear up-front that offers wouldn't be entertained); in the end it swapped agents, and has dropped off the market (but I know not if it sold, or has simply been withdrawn for now)
If they’ve moved to Spain properly and taken residency, they’ll be in for a big shock with CGT if they sell their U.K. property within the next Spanish tax year. Would have thought that would have been a serious incentive to get it gone in swift time. 
FrankAbagnale said:
We're still looking to buy in Cheltenham, which seems relatively unaffected by any house price reductions.
I would be interested to see completion data in Cheltenham though, as it feels like there aren't as many sales. Problem being, a lot of the houses we want to look at are sales of choice/downsizes and the sellers aren't pressured to sell.
One house we like has been on the market for around 5 months for £1m. We'd be prepared to buy at 900k-925k which I feel is competitive.
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
Widening our search out to Cirencester and surrounds soon..
That's interesting to hear - I'm also looking to buy in and around Cheltenham although my budget is bigger. Just to try and inform my judgement I try and keep an eye on the wider market to get a feel for how strong it is. It feels to me that property up to just over 1 million or so is still selling, albeit more slowly, but above that there is very little moving and reductions are certainly not unusual, and they are still not selling. Houses are also returning to the market having apparently sold, or just disappearing. from last year. One issue I have seen is that the quality of property currently available is relatively poor (and I wonder if some potential vendors are just sitting the current situation out and hoping for a return to the conditions of the last 2 years) and there is little choice. I was hoping that things might pick up again about now, but no obvious signs of that happening. I'm not a hardened bargain hunter but I'm just looking for a nice home, and that seems a tricky ask at the moment. I would be interested to see completion data in Cheltenham though, as it feels like there aren't as many sales. Problem being, a lot of the houses we want to look at are sales of choice/downsizes and the sellers aren't pressured to sell.
One house we like has been on the market for around 5 months for £1m. We'd be prepared to buy at 900k-925k which I feel is competitive.
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
Widening our search out to Cirencester and surrounds soon..
There are still some absolutely delusional asking prices being asked. I mean this in now way other than observational, but it seems to me that the market segment at around the price point you mention is full of houses with vendors attempting to stretch the house beyond what it is - sorry if that doesn't make any sense - what was a 600k house in 2017-18 is in some cases now for sale for double that in such a short space of time, relatively, and I just cannot fathom how that is sustainable or achievable. It's ridiculous that the houses people are living in are expected to earn more than the occupants, year on year without fail. IMO the quality of these sorts of house falls far short of expectation set by the asking price.
If a vendor who is not awash with other offers is unwilling to consider an offer of the nature you mention Frank then I think they would be very foolish. Maybe they just aren't that motivated to actually sell. A 10 percentage fall would seem the bare minimum unless a uniquely appealing property and/or sensibly priced in the first place, but it'll be interesting to see what actually happens and I appreciate that I have an obvious bias in that I'm looking to buy.
skwdenyer said:
brickwall said:
I was looking at a few:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-25...
https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf
I don’t disagree with you on debt servicing costs, especially in a PE environment.
However I’m not so bearish on the consequences of that - if the firms have underlying good prospects and solid EBITDA then the funds will likely pump a bit more equity in to deleverage the balance sheet rather than let it go bust. Diluting returns a little will in most cases be preferable to wiping out the equity. I think that’s especially true when the funds are sitting on masses of dry powder (as they are right now).
It depends upon how effective the owners have been at extracting cash. Don't forget the highly-leveraged way many deals are done, with the debt ending up on the acquisition target's balance sheet; the owners / funds only have to get back their own cash stake in order to be up on the deal, which can happen in a very surprisingly short period of time. In that circumstance, why would they put cash back in?https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-25...
https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf
I don’t disagree with you on debt servicing costs, especially in a PE environment.
However I’m not so bearish on the consequences of that - if the firms have underlying good prospects and solid EBITDA then the funds will likely pump a bit more equity in to deleverage the balance sheet rather than let it go bust. Diluting returns a little will in most cases be preferable to wiping out the equity. I think that’s especially true when the funds are sitting on masses of dry powder (as they are right now).
Obviously every company, every deal is different; generalisations aren't always helpful. But I'm not at all comfortable with the level of insolvencies I'm seeing in my own customer base right now...
It’s rare these days for bank debt to be much >50% of the total target EV, so it’s a very good investment that can refinance all the original equity value within 3 years of acquisition, and in such a case the fund clearly would see a future for the asset otherwise they’d have exited.
Now - if it’s a bad company, poorly performing without a bright future then it’s a different story. And I fully accept there are many such companies in the UK.
Flying machine said:
FrankAbagnale said:
We're still looking to buy in Cheltenham, which seems relatively unaffected by any house price reductions.
I would be interested to see completion data in Cheltenham though, as it feels like there aren't as many sales. Problem being, a lot of the houses we want to look at are sales of choice/downsizes and the sellers aren't pressured to sell.
One house we like has been on the market for around 5 months for £1m. We'd be prepared to buy at 900k-925k which I feel is competitive.
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
Widening our search out to Cirencester and surrounds soon..
That's interesting to hear - I'm also looking to buy in and around Cheltenham although my budget is bigger. Just to try and inform my judgement I try and keep an eye on the wider market to get a feel for how strong it is. It feels to me that property up to just over 1 million or so is still selling, albeit more slowly, but above that there is very little moving and reductions are certainly not unusual, and they are still not selling. Houses are also returning to the market having apparently sold, or just disappearing. from last year. One issue I have seen is that the quality of property currently available is relatively poor (and I wonder if some potential vendors are just sitting the current situation out and hoping for a return to the conditions of the last 2 years) and there is little choice. I was hoping that things might pick up again about now, but no obvious signs of that happening. I'm not a hardened bargain hunter but I'm just looking for a nice home, and that seems a tricky ask at the moment. I would be interested to see completion data in Cheltenham though, as it feels like there aren't as many sales. Problem being, a lot of the houses we want to look at are sales of choice/downsizes and the sellers aren't pressured to sell.
One house we like has been on the market for around 5 months for £1m. We'd be prepared to buy at 900k-925k which I feel is competitive.
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
Widening our search out to Cirencester and surrounds soon..
There are still some absolutely delusional asking prices being asked. I mean this in now way other than observational, but it seems to me that the market segment at around the price point you mention is full of houses with vendors attempting to stretch the house beyond what it is - sorry if that doesn't make any sense - what was a 600k house in 2017-18 is in some cases now for sale for double that in such a short space of time, relatively, and I just cannot fathom how that is sustainable or achievable. It's ridiculous that the houses people are living in are expected to earn more than the occupants, year on year without fail. IMO the quality of these sorts of house falls far short of expectation set by the asking price.
If a vendor who is not awash with other offers is unwilling to consider an offer of the nature you mention Frank then I think they would be very foolish. Maybe they just aren't that motivated to actually sell. A 10 percentage fall would seem the bare minimum unless a uniquely appealing property and/or sensibly priced in the first place, but it'll be interesting to see what actually happens and I appreciate that I have an obvious bias in that I'm looking to buy.
You're exactly right about the movement of stock being erratic, and the listing of genuinely new stock being slow. It is a painful search. I'm generally surprised at the lack of stock at £2.5m+ - for an affluent area surrounded by leafy villages and fields it doesn't feel like there is a proportional number of big homes. That, or they never see the open market.
Also, spot on with the 600k homes being todays £1m homes - the capital appreciation has been insane, even over the last 2 to 3 years. It feels like there has been 30%+ movement in some homes and that 600/700k bracket is the most affected. Rubbish semi's at £1m is the new norm.
Unfortunately for us, the vendor of the home we're looking to buy is a widow who has lived there 20+ years. She has no real incentive to move other than to downsize and i'd imagine is struggling with the emotional weight of moving also. To her, the value of the home is probably unquantifiable.
brickwall said:
FrankAbagnale said:
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
This seems completely mad from the vendor, or at the very least indicates they’re just flying a kite. This one near me (sort of), just sold in less than a month recently. £1.5 million asking, and needs a bit of work.
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/64096133...
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/64096133...
FrankAbagnale said:
Flying machine said:
FrankAbagnale said:
We're still looking to buy in Cheltenham, which seems relatively unaffected by any house price reductions.
I would be interested to see completion data in Cheltenham though, as it feels like there aren't as many sales. Problem being, a lot of the houses we want to look at are sales of choice/downsizes and the sellers aren't pressured to sell.
One house we like has been on the market for around 5 months for £1m. We'd be prepared to buy at 900k-925k which I feel is competitive.
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
Widening our search out to Cirencester and surrounds soon..
That's interesting to hear - I'm also looking to buy in and around Cheltenham although my budget is bigger. Just to try and inform my judgement I try and keep an eye on the wider market to get a feel for how strong it is. It feels to me that property up to just over 1 million or so is still selling, albeit more slowly, but above that there is very little moving and reductions are certainly not unusual, and they are still not selling. Houses are also returning to the market having apparently sold, or just disappearing. from last year. One issue I have seen is that the quality of property currently available is relatively poor (and I wonder if some potential vendors are just sitting the current situation out and hoping for a return to the conditions of the last 2 years) and there is little choice. I was hoping that things might pick up again about now, but no obvious signs of that happening. I'm not a hardened bargain hunter but I'm just looking for a nice home, and that seems a tricky ask at the moment. I would be interested to see completion data in Cheltenham though, as it feels like there aren't as many sales. Problem being, a lot of the houses we want to look at are sales of choice/downsizes and the sellers aren't pressured to sell.
One house we like has been on the market for around 5 months for £1m. We'd be prepared to buy at 900k-925k which I feel is competitive.
I spoke with the agent last week and they had a strong offer of £950k which the vendor rejected as holding out for the £1m.
Widening our search out to Cirencester and surrounds soon..
There are still some absolutely delusional asking prices being asked. I mean this in now way other than observational, but it seems to me that the market segment at around the price point you mention is full of houses with vendors attempting to stretch the house beyond what it is - sorry if that doesn't make any sense - what was a 600k house in 2017-18 is in some cases now for sale for double that in such a short space of time, relatively, and I just cannot fathom how that is sustainable or achievable. It's ridiculous that the houses people are living in are expected to earn more than the occupants, year on year without fail. IMO the quality of these sorts of house falls far short of expectation set by the asking price.
If a vendor who is not awash with other offers is unwilling to consider an offer of the nature you mention Frank then I think they would be very foolish. Maybe they just aren't that motivated to actually sell. A 10 percentage fall would seem the bare minimum unless a uniquely appealing property and/or sensibly priced in the first place, but it'll be interesting to see what actually happens and I appreciate that I have an obvious bias in that I'm looking to buy.
You're exactly right about the movement of stock being erratic, and the listing of genuinely new stock being slow. It is a painful search. I'm generally surprised at the lack of stock at £2.5m+ - for an affluent area surrounded by leafy villages and fields it doesn't feel like there is a proportional number of big homes. That, or they never see the open market.
Also, spot on with the 600k homes being todays £1m homes - the capital appreciation has been insane, even over the last 2 to 3 years. It feels like there has been 30%+ movement in some homes and that 600/700k bracket is the most affected. Rubbish semi's at £1m is the new norm.
Unfortunately for us, the vendor of the home we're looking to buy is a widow who has lived there 20+ years. She has no real incentive to move other than to downsize and i'd imagine is struggling with the emotional weight of moving also. To her, the value of the home is probably unquantifiable.
Prescott or similar sounds like a great idea!
ooid said:
This one near me (sort of), just sold in less than a month recently. £1.5 million asking, and needs a bit of work.
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/64096133...
“A bit”https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/64096133...
Understatement of the century there
skwdenyer said:
Shnozz said:
skwdenyer said:
Or they just don't need to sell in any hurry. I looked at a house in the Dales last year in a similar situation - had sat on the market for a year or so even then at a price too high even for the hot market last summer. Vendor had already moved to Spain for retirement, had no specific need for the money, and simply refused to entertain offers. Agents were actively putting potential buyers off (or at least being very clear up-front that offers wouldn't be entertained); in the end it swapped agents, and has dropped off the market (but I know not if it sold, or has simply been withdrawn for now)
If they’ve moved to Spain properly and taken residency, they’ll be in for a big shock with CGT if they sell their U.K. property within the next Spanish tax year. Would have thought that would have been a serious incentive to get it gone in swift time. No one should be rich enough to throw money away. Which is exactly why BofE is tightening, some people clearly have too much money.
The opportunity cost of £1mill sat burning council tax, maintenance, etc, is viable in a hot market.
But in today’s market? £40,000 a year in interest just sat in the bank. Never mind £££ saved in council tax, possible CGT exposure building up etc.
You’d be looking for a 6% house price rise next year just to stand still. Hard to see that happening?
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