Deep Singh

How do you mean 'auction prices at the moment aren't anything to go by'?

If you need to sell then auction prices reflect exactly what you can expect to achieve for your property. So I don't understand your statement.

I also find it funny that 'vultures are circling', I agree they are but I think they will get stung aswell because property prices are going to drop further. So the flat bought at £460k and then sold at auction for £360k will be available for £320k next year

al4x1

our auctions have next to no people at them, used to have a mix of first time buyers and renovators plus the professionals at them, at the moment there is hardly anyone bidding so houses that have to be disposed of are going for very low prices if at all. However it only takes a whiff of optimism and the market will kick start, with the current news stories its not going to be too soon.
However were banks to start competing for mortgage business again that would be the stimulus needed, contrary to the SN opinion certainly in our area there isn't a mass of repo properties hitting the market. We've still high rates of employment and interest rates that haven't moved. If you have to sell its a bad time to do so and the price will need to be very low as with new builds they need to be shifted as the builders will forgo their profit margin just to reduce their borrowings these all give a picture of the market in free fall. It needs an adjustment but it'll bounce back, at the moment people are just sitting back waiting to see what happens partly due to press reporting rather than inability to move as I've certainly got friends who recently have managed to get first time mortgages agreed so they are ready and as long as you have a deposit the lenders are still there, not as cheap as before but not too bad at the moment. The picture isn't great but its not as bad as made out.

Deep Singh

al4x1, do you work for an auction house and if so which one? (if you don't mind me asking)

I think your statement above is quite off the mark in some respects. I agree the auction houses are empty at the moment, but if you need to sell its these low prices that are being achieved and hence the market decides that is the value of the property, period.

You also give the impression that it will just take a small stimulus ('a whiff of optimism' as you say) of some kind to kick start the housing market. I don't think you could be more wrong, the bad news is going to keep coming, all you might see is a 'dead cat bounce'

Once unemployment starts to rise (it already has actually) you will see more forced sellers ie more repos at auction houses with hardly any players and the prices will plummet more.

The 'bounce back' you talk of is years away, it will take a full cycle of pain and fiscal readjustment to get there. If you work in the property sector (which your post implies) I'm gob smacked that you can't see that

Julio Jordio

Completely agree with the above post.

The market will need to bottom out before people begin investing again. There is no quick fix to the current situation we are in, we have to be patient as the market readjusts, we all knew prices couldnt continue to rise in the very steep trend that they were, but some people became so used to seeing house prices rise, that they now find it very difficult to understand/accept that in 10 months the cycle has been completely reversed.

The best way I can describe the market falling is this;

Its like a big rain cloud showering over the entire country, slowly drizzling. Prices wont crash, just steadily dwindle down.

richardg

not necessarily - it takes no account of discounts and cashbacks...

paulwrxboro

to be honest , nobody knows....end of

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

I live deep in scottish land, in a place that should not be too badly affected due to the favourable high energy prices (Aberdeen) and I can categorically state that the above is most definitely not happening

The only properties selling are those with reduced prices or those that are particularly desirable. There have never been so many properties for sale in my memory.

AJF

iTrader: (1)

i repo houses i know the figure that are repo'd each day and those figures dont include hand backs

dpb

only a quarter off - someones being taken for ride !

Petem95

There's a whole block of new builds in Leeds which were all sold off plan, and every single one of the buyers has pulled out, each losing 20k deposit in the process - however they're expected to be worth £80-100k below the sale prices now, at least!

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

bought my house for 40k in 2002 next door sold for 112k not so long ago so im still on a winner

Brit_in_Japan

The credit crunch is affecting the Scots too. I have friends who are getting married in a few months and so their plan was to sell their two properties and buy one new one.

They saw a house they liked and didn't want to miss out, so they made an offer which was accepted. Missives were exchanged so they were committed. They managed to sell one of their flats, but they're currently stuck with the other. It should have been the easiest to sell, excellent location, is in good order etc but people just can't get mortgages. Many have made offers only to come back a few days later and pull out because they just can't get hold of the funds.

They're hanging on in the hope that someone will come along with funds. It's waking distance from a university so they're hoping that someone's rich mummy & daddy will buy their kid a flat before the next term starts.

paulr

Yuppie flats, serves them right. There is one on Cleethorpes sea front, £295k a few years ago, or this for £299k
Full Property Details – Jackson Green & Preston Estate Agents

nixxon

Leeds! Exactly. Most of these muppet investors got caught up in the greedy grab for whatever property they could get. They were too stupid to get in early, and by the time they saw the "profits to be made" on daytime telly, all they could afford was a hamster cage in Leeds. They never asked what Leeds had to offer, who wanted to live there- They probably never even visited the place. Only got themselves to blame really.
Now, if they'd bought a nice 3 bed family house to let out, they'd be larfin' now!

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

At least dropping prices will stop all those bores who constantly go on about how much their houses are worth - when they start with 'oh, ours is worth £500K' you can chip in with 'wasnt it worth £600K a couple of months ago ?'

Most of the big drops are going to be in new builds, which are always overpriced massively in the first place - hence the builders offering £99 move in deals, deposit paid, paying the mortgage for the first 2 years etc...

I'm not overly worried as where we live the prices dont seem to have shown any signs of dropping, in fact, a house the same as ours in the next street has just gone on the market for £46K more than we paid for ours, and the last one that sold in our street went for nearly the same price a year ago.

The area we live in is very popular with retiring and older people, most of who are downsizing from much bigger places, so they arent so bothered about the prices as they are still quids in. As there arent many houses around here, and the people who buy them tend to stay in them until they get carried out in a box, buyers snap them up pretty quickly.

Ours was cheaper as it was a probate sale, and also needed quite a bit of modernising, most of which was just cosmetic and things like the wiring, new boiler etc...

Adidas

A house that backs on to mine was up for £1.2m in February. A new estate agents board went up the week before last, so I made a descreet enquiry (ie rightmove ). It's now on at £900,000.

Even for a simpleton like me can work out thats a £50k drop a month

CrisPDuk

There are still plenty of people wanting to buy, the trouble is because the banks are busy sh!tting themselves (another sector that failed to learn from it's own incompetence) nobody can get a mortgage at the momoent



On the plus side, my house is still worth £1M+ though*




*Obviously not if I wanted to sell, but since I don't want to sell, that's just what it would cost if someone told me they wanted to buy

Deep Singh

I think you are wrong, there are not plenty of people wanting to buy. Banks are still lending, even stupid people won't buy a house when its losing money every day

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

i would :P

there is a house near me that has been up since last year and it is still up now but the price has never moved, gonna go and offer £15000 less and work from there :P

unclebuck

Apparently not if post 47 is anything to go by....

fast bloke

Don't sell if you don't need to. Due to lack of mortgage availability, you might struggle to sell an 800k house for 200k. That doesn't mean it is only worth 200k. It just means no-one can raise the money. However - As I correctly forecast in January on one of the Pete threads, the crunch is starting to ease. By the end of August, every lender will have had a full accouting period since the credit crunch started, so every other lender will know how much of a risk they might be. If anyone can be arsed to find the thread, I said that fixed rates would go through the roof until July, and then fall back in line with swap rates in July and August. God I love being right (Did I mention that the big 5 lenders have all cut fixed and tracker rates twice this week? Did anyone notice if the doom petes mentioned it as well? )

Deep Singh

Why do people keep saying that? If you need to sell your house and all you can get is £200k then it is worth £200k, period. Houses just like every other asset are valued by the market rate ie what someone is prepared to pay for them.
You can't say for example, I have a barrel of oil which I need to sell, the market will only pay £100 for it, but as far as I'm concerned its worth £200 just because thats what it was selling for a year ago.
It may make you feel better to think that way but it really is head in the sand stuff.
I agree if you don't need to sell, you won't crystallise your losses, but if you do then your house is worth what the market dictates not a random value that you want it to be worth

paulg1979

iTrader: (1)

I'm moving into a new build house in september. Payed £240,000 for it 6 months ago. Wonder how much its going to be worth now. Part ex'd my apartment for it so mines sold too. just waiting for them to complete my house. I don't really care about the credit crunch as i'll probably live there for a few years.

TopBanana

paulg1979

iTrader: (1)

As I went for the mortgage such a long time ago i'm getting that rate which is 5.6% so thats a result

austinwrx

our company has just taken on 5 flats in a mill conversion (in Bradford)

the investor paid £170 k a piece for them. we're offering him £85 a week rent each ! obviously not going to cover any return/investment/mortgage.

he is clearly a moron having bought them in the first place and he has accepted.

and they are these stupid studio apartments- read bedsit !!!!

MattN

Agreed. We bought new and the contract is basically set out so the Price is 200k, less 5k for x and 2k for y. We paid 193k but that site states 200k. As our estate was all new build all the prices were the asking prices as the deal was simply as above. All new builds are done that way, mainly to protect the builders.

Helped when selling though as it made it look like we'd paid more

Also not all sales show on there. My old house for 2005 never showed on there and neither does my current flat which we moved in over a year ago.

marky1

4 million euro villa in marbella knocked out by a bank last week (repossesion) for 700k euros.

Deep Singh

Marky, do you have a weblink to that property?

marky1

No sorry I don't. Heard it through a contact in the UK. If you pm me your email I am expecting more info on other things available today and I'll let you know when I get it.