Housing market slump

My neighbor's house just sold....as we agreed- you really only need one buyer!

Here's hoping that one all-important buyer comes your way very soon.....

can you let it out if you can't sell it in time?

it might be a bad idea to hand the keys back to the mortgage company if you're planning to return to the UK one day.

Our house has been on the market for 10 weeks and not even a hint of a buyer.

That's not good news! Only 2 weeks longer than ours, let's hope the new year brings a better market and more people willing to buy!

hi there,

Varying 'views' on this - as yet, there isn't a 'slump' as such with the housing market. There is a feeling of potential buyers 'holding off' as a result of the interest rates rises biting into more and more people's pockets - so i think there's a 'slump' in potential demand.

The same thing happened around August 2005, after a raft of interest rate rises, sales flattened off as people became cautious. House values then and now continue to rise and that's becuase of the Supply/demand ratio. Overall, there is STILL a severe lack of housing in the UK, becuase of that, property becomes sought after and hence prices rise.

currently, the 'values' of property haven't 'slumped' like the 1989 crash and aren't likely to either. Borrowing money is still relatively very cheap, combine that with the British 'psyche' of wanting to own their own property, it becomes 'popular' to do - hence the tripling of prices over the last decade or so.

There are areas of the UK where sales/exchanges will be slower and I'll hazard a guess that maybe those who've not had a viewing etc 'could' be in those areas and/or slightly higher asking price etc. Remember, it's the price the property will sell at which 'counts' (i'm not saying its only that of course!!)

So although theres lots of reports of 'wobbly this and that' and 2 year lows in new sales/exchanges' on one hand and 'prices still rising' and 'new development sold out' - I think the 'overall' view is that if you are wanting to buy, and can afford to do so sensibly, then go ahead and buy - think along that supply/demand ratio. It's a fallacy to hold off if you are in a position to buy now if you 'think' the prices will come down significantly within the near future. After the dot.com boom, many people thought ok, lets wait till prices tumble, and they did to an extent, then along came sept 11th and markets jittered everywhere, indexes were at record lows and all that, and people thought right, house prices are surely going to crash spectacular style a la 1989.

It didn't happen -

Interest rate cuts helped people (including me) to borrow - house prices went UP in that very bleak economic period of 2000-2002ish.

With demand substantially outstripping supply in almost all areas of the UK, prices are not 'likely' to crash - unless there's some major economic turning point in the near future.

For those trying to sell, all the other tricks come into play - making the property more desirable, fixing odds and ends, maintenence, additions etc etc all help in selling the property - I suggest spending some time investing in making your property more marketable in order to 'tempt' potential buyers ...   

Good luck!
Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

There's certainly no slump around here. A house down the road from me just sold for about £50K more than the asking price.

I do feel for those of you who are trying to sell. Any sort of slow-down in home buying isn't great for you. But for those of us on the other side (house-hunters), it could be good news! Of course, nothing's slowing down in the areas we're looking. 

Good News this end.  We got a note of interest!!!  YAAAYYY!   Only 9 more to get then i'll be happy 

good luck, carol! 

good luck, carol! 

Thanks - going to glasgow this weekend to start looking at houses! 

Pittpanther36 and Sheri67 - good luck to you two and anyone else going through this.  I've been doing it just over one week and i'm finding it one of the most stressful things...I feel like i'm not living in my own house, the place is spotless and i'm freaking out if DH even puts a newspaper in the wrong place.  There's no way i could do this for another 10/11 weeks, so i'm feeling your pain!    But like someone else said...you only need that one person!  I've got everything crossed for you both.

My agent says it's slow this time of year regardless of interest rates.  My house has only been on the market for a week but I'm already worried.  We had one showing but they didn't like the apartments across the street.  Texas isn't as bad as most places since it is already cheap here.  Worse comes to worse I can let my tenant stay there until it is sold.  Someone has to pay the mortgage right?  I hope it picks up next year.

We have had our house on the market for 2 months now, with not a single viewing! It's on rightmove for those that want to see it:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/action/publicsite.PropertySearch

We just lowered the price (we knew the estate agent had overpriced it!) so I am hoping that we have more interest, but last night the news was just saying how the market is slumping and getting worse like it was 15yrs ago.

I am doing my best to support DH with the move stateside, but if we have this house longer than a few months from moving (we would move in January), then it's going to really hurt our finances (at the moment, the US to UK exchange is only beneficial living in the UK). We don't have enough equity to sell it on to homebuyer lower than market value. We will only break even probably as it is 

anyone else affected by the housing market at the moment? I just hope it picks up in 2008.

We had one viewing last weekend and it looks like they are the perfect couple for the house! They love it, but have to come back to see it in the daytime, fingers crossed! I haven't been keeping my house perfect, I just put things away and clean up if there's a viewing,  so far of which there's only been one 

Fingers crossed for your viewing. We had what was it, 6 weeks with no viewers at all on ours. As they say, all you need is one buyer.

As far as the Right Move listing, I would suggest photos of your views, which you list as a selling point, additional photos of the garden, to show its size, photo of the dining room if possible, mention of whether the bedroom pictured is a loft conversion (as it looks that way) and if it is, an additional photo of one of the other bedrooms, and I'd also suggest photos that are a little less washed out looking. Also to have the estate agent take off the caps-lock. If you are handy with a camera, take some digital photos yourself and have the agent upload them if they are good. We did that for our listing, the original photos were dull and not well lit - I took some on a sunnier day and had them 'pop' so they were very eye catching and vibrant.

Your listing is what's going to get people in the door and the more and better presented it is, it will help generate more interest.

Good luck and I hope that couple comes through for you!!! Moving is hell (just did it ourselves.) But it IS worth it in the end!!

We had one viewing last weekend and it looks like they are the perfect couple for the house! They love it, but have to come back to see it in the daytime, fingers crossed! I haven't been keeping my house perfect, I just put things away and clean up if there's a viewing,  so far of which there's only been one 

Good luck.  I hope they buy it.  We have had no interest in the house.  I have lowered it by nearly 10k.  Our agent told me that it is direr out there (market conditions).  She suggested waiting until after x-mas and lower it another 5k.

We had one viewing last weekend and it looks like they are the perfect couple for the house! They love it, but have to come back to see it in the daytime, fingers crossed!

Good luck Pittpanther36...Maybe this is just the one that you need.

I haven't been keeping my house perfect, I just put things away and clean up if there's a viewing,  so far of which there's only been one 

Interesting...when we were selling the house was kept spotless (easier for us since there were set times when people could come and view rather than appointments) but when we were looking to buy it was amazing how little people had prepared the house in advance...there were people eating, smoking, friends around, laundry blocking the front door, someone in the loo, dirty dishes!  Not really a coincidence, but the one we eventually settled on was immaculate.  So, you're already ahead of the competition if you're keeping it clean and tidy!

SO let out his house while he was in the US for 6 yrs.  He made a killing and it was the best decision he ever made.  He was letting it out for more than his monthly payment so even with paying the letting agent he  made money every month.  If you can try to let it out.

Having said all that I hope your house sells soon.