housing market 2020-2021 = WTF???

[Blown2CV]

We were one of the homeowners who were already thinking selling when COVID hit. We needed a bigger place after having 2 kids, and it had been in the plan for some time. We could afford a fair uplift in price, and have a decent equity to go from. Stamp duty holiday kicks in, and we put ours on the market. Obviously sells immediately for a great price and we commence looking for a place to buy. This was back in June last year... we had been browsing rightmove etc for some time before that.

We didn't have a particular area in mind, and so were looking pretty much at anything that came up in Cheshire and Lancashire that fit our budget and requirements, and was in a nice area with good schools, and had a decent garden etc. Basically we were being about as flexible as we could possibly be.
We have viewed an absolute ton of properties... maybe 30-40, lost out on some things, saw lots of compromise places... and quite frankly a lot of horrid rubbish that we couldn't be creative enough in our vision to be able to see working..... time was getting on, and it wasn't really going the way we wanted, and so we decided to move to rented accommodation in order to facilitate the sale, which eventually completed in November.

We had a bit of a break from it, but have been continuing to view properties the whole time really, maybe 60 or so up till today. The very few that we have seen that we have loved, we've missed out. We did have a purchase agreed (we won out of 9 bidders) and it was fairly progressed, but with no ETA after 3 months, the vendor pulled out.

Since then, we bid 50k over asking price for a house that needed everything doing, full renovation, and we lost by some margin. We are thoroughly disheartened by the whole thing, and we now feel that the market is rising and putting what we want further out of reach. The generally accepted view is that it will return to a buyers' market at some point, and that things will change now that the stamp duty saving is vastly reducing in a week's time, but again this may take time to have effect.

Any advice for us please?

[Blown2CV]

bungz said:

Gone through similar myself.

Had two houses to sell in the past year which was the easy part, finding the one to buy was tricky.

Think we bid on 8 properties, 7 of those at asking and above.

Got lucky with the one we are progressing on, bid a touch over asking and got accepted before others seemed to progress their offers.

You are right though there is some absolute dross on the market well above its real value.

You are in rented, just sit it out would be my advice.

yea i am thinking sit tight for now. The current house is smaller than the one we moved out of... for being too small! It's also under the airport landing/take-off path and next to a busy main road... was only meant to be very temporary! I think we will survive tho.

[Blown2CV]

Muzzer79 said:

Blown2CV said:

WeWe did have a purchase agreed (we won out of 9 bidders) and it was fairly progressed, but with no ETA after 3 months, the vendor pulled out.

If you're in rented, why did this deal break down?

If you've viewed 60 properties and still not found or been able to buy one you like, it's hard to know if you're being too picky or if it's just the market not letting you get properties you like.

There'll be someone along who'll say that prices and demand will drop next year due to redundancies after Covid.
Someone else will say that the market will hold.
Nobody really knows.

But if it keeps blowing up like a bubble then that bubble will burst at some point so, if you're in rented, my gut feeling is to sit tight and be patient.

ETA - we were very lucky. Sold our place in April and within 2 weeks found a lovely house that we had an offer accepted on. It's not gone through yet, but we're praying that it does because, in the intervening 2 months, precisely one house has come on the market that fits our (wide) criteria.

Well, there is a bit more to it regarding that purchase... here goes... it was very much a compromise as it really didn't give us all we wanted, and over time our concerns did grow. Now, the vendor was meant to be moving to a new build which was almost built but work had stopped. It remained this way for months, and we had radio silence from them on any query we put to them, no information, not even a "sorry we don't know any more but we are aware you are keen" etc. It's not that we needed the stamp duty saving, but if someone said to you, do you want 14k or not, then you'd probably say yes i do, so we were wanting it to move forward. We ended up getting a bit pissed off, and in the end we said to them that if we didn't get a confirmed ETA by mid June, then this is fine and we will sit tight, but we are reducing the price we are willing to pay, as our costs have escalated. They then pulled out. We weren't trying to game them, we just wanted them to accept their share the burden of the delays, which were solely coming from their side.

it is also hard to tell whether we are being picky or if it is the market. If the issue is supply, then I would assume that the number of all types of properties would be higher under certain types of market conditions... but if the issue is demand then the supply is the supply and all it means is that we find it hard to complete upon the property we want... finding wouldn't be the issue. We have seen maybe 5 properties that we would go forward with over the last year or so. Is that a bad hit rate...dunno.

[Blown2CV]

BertyFish said:

Similar situation,

We put our bungalow which was in quite a special location on the market July last year having lived in it for 2 years and not being quite right for us.

So the buyers could be for the stamp duty and to be in a good buying position we decided to go into rented which is something
we've never done before.

Completed Feb and since then we have viewed maybe 6 houses at the most, 2 that are top end for us and not quite our style and the rest
needing work which is fine but youve got to love the house after spending a couple of years working on it.

Looking on Rightmove everyday is depressing, the 2 main estate agents are being realsitic but the smaller estate agents that have 1 or 2 houses a month are pricing them crazy, i guess telling the vendors you can get this for it and trying there luck.


Im not sure if its best to stretch ourselves or to stay put in rental and see what happens.

yes very similar to our deliberation right now!

[Blown2CV]

okgo said:

ChocolateFrog said:

Apparently more than 1%of the UK are millionaires.

I assume that includes everything including property and pension but still, just highlights that you're competing with a lot of very rich people for the best properties.

Along with most wealthy people becoming disproportionately more wealthy during the pandemic and the chancellor stoking the property market I'm not surprised people are struggling to buy the nice properties.

OP hasn't mentioned his budget I don't think?

I think the stamp duty holiday and covid re-evaluation is the big thing here given as you say, 99% of people are not millionaires. Saving 15k when spending 7 figures is an annoyance vs important like it would be if spending 500k.

budget is say 400k for a wreck/dev opportunity or up to 700k for something more finished.

[Blown2CV]

sjc said:

The next 6 months will be very telling.
SD holiday ending, furlough ending,inflation climbing possible winter Covid restrictions again.It’s inevitable to me that the market will correct itself, just no one knows by how much. I’ve sold and completed Monday, in rented now and in no rush. Paying 50k + over the true value of a house to save 12.5k in stamp duty is madness. I’m already seeing price reductions on properties in my area that haven’t being on the market long.

the 50k over offer was just to secure the house - not the stamp duty holiday. The demand now is not really related to stamp duty as it all but finishes in a week or so.

[Blown2CV]

GreatGranny said:

OP, this has just come on the market in the village I grew up in and my parents and sister still live in.

Easily walking distance to the village centre, in catchment oof good primary school and the high school is decent as well but there are private alternatives not too far away.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109364741#/

I've a feeling interest will be huge for this as a house to extend.

Or this is all ready to move in with lots of space.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/107170007#/

thanks man

[Blown2CV]

inflation seems to be the biggest uncertain lever here. The thread seems to have a number of opposing views... sitting in rented is great versus sitting in rented is the worst idea! Probs dependent upon inflation and the knock on effects...

[Blown2CV]

red_slr said:

Sheepshanks said:

GreatGranny said:

OP, this has just come on the market in the village I grew up in and my parents and sister still live in.

Easily walking distance to the village centre, in catchment oof good primary school and the high school is decent as well but there are private alternatives not too far away.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109364741#/

The way things are that'll probably sell but it looks way expensive to me, both for what it is, and related to its price when last sold in 2006. £545K now vs £310K in 2006, and it's not like it's been physically altered in the meantime.

A couple of 'sold nearby' listings don't show much movement - one sold in 2017 for less than in 2011.

Culcheth can be strange like that but there are places that are very popular. We still keep an eye on the area and anything in the Twiss Green area does generally sell quite fast. Only time will tell really.

got to watch some parts of the various areas around that way as HS2 etc