[Diny]

On the late news last night, at the very end, they did the bit about what's on the front of the newspapers for the next day. Must admit I felt a slight feeling of 'yessssssss' :nice1 when one of them (I think it may be the Express but don't quote me on that) has a massive headline informing us that house prices are officially rising.

They report that there's been some country wide survey and there is actual evidence that the prices are rising once more and the 'market slump' is over.

Now I'm fully aware that surveys usually come out in favour of whichever particular body has conducted them - we live in a country steeped in spin after all - but quite frankly I don't care if it's right or not. PB has long claimed that all the housing market needs is one 'rumour' of things going in an upward direction and places will start to sell again. I wonder whether this will be the case? Oh lord I hope this is the case :hopeso

Can't see anything happening before Christmas but maybe this headline will have a positive effect on the market in January.

Diny

[Yogi]

Diny,

Which country are you talking about, with all the too and fro of people lately I loose track! :?

If it's the UK I think any kind of slump was always very regional. I the little town where I live things only ever slowed down a little...

Fingers crossed the train keeps rolling for us as we are planning to put ours on the market after Xmas.

Cheers,

Yogi.

[Diny]

Yogi

Sorry about that - yeah I mean the UK (we are in Staffordshire). I think some regions have 'slumped' more than others but there's been a definate nationwide slow down. My mother in law in NZ said there was a big piece in their newspaper about the UK housing market being the slowest it's been for years.

Round here house sales ground to a halt after September. However, taking the children to school this morning I notice that 2 houses that have been up for sale for yonks now have 'SOLD' stickers on their boards.

All the best for when you put your house on the market in the new year.

Diny

[sarahw]

Oh Diny, I really hope so :hopeso

Noone's even looked at our house in the last 3 weeks! Not very impressive - houses are moving around our way but for 30-40K under what they were on for originally 6 months ago.

I hope that things do start moving in January because we're getting ever more concerned as our leaving date approaches and we're not even getting a sniff of interest. We had to hand over power of attorney this week as we won't be around when it sells now - 3 people have looked around our house in the 6 weeks its been on the market (OK one of them looked 3 times and was considering making an offer but they bought a neighbour's house)...

Good luck to everyone who is trying to sell their house at the moment!

[Helga]

This is all sooo frustrating isn't it? That would be such good news Diny because it seems that the slump only came about through scaremongering in the media - what else exactly changed things??? I think we'll all find it's a bit better after the New Year - I'm sure people just don't go and look during December. Let's hope so - positive thinking everybody!!!

:hopeso :hopeso

Sarahw - I would be devastated if someone bought my neighbour's house instead - how awful for you :wah

Helga

[leslie]

where we live there is near zilch on the market, the agents are crying for listings but if you talk to them they have to 'low price' property to sell. crap. they just haven't a clue how to do the job. there is almost nowhere to build in london - its not going to ease here unless they can transform the transit system.

that said, building hub designed in liverpool??? was selling for unbelievable money - a 'correction' is perhaps due in places where things were outpricing the market.

my cousns made huge money post war buying property in slump. funny that - when property prices slump the rich always get richer. and who controls the uk media??? v irritating...

[Kim39]

:? unsure Diny. The only way i take this news is if this house sells with the new agent. After it being on the market since July we took the decision to change agents 2 weeks ago, due to their awful unprofessional service, just noticed that the sign has been removed this morning. We have 3 agents coming round next week to value house so lets see what their valuations are compared to what it was up for.
Now is it going to be change of agents, change of fortune :hopeso

Kim

[markkellaway]

Hi All,

I think it really does depend on the type of property and the location. There is lots of evidence that points to the lower priced properties dropping in value, partly because buy to let has been hit by rate hikes. Also the higher end of the market has been hit by the rate hikes. I have seen a few reports that say the impact on the "middle ground" has been minimal so far.

It's also not a good time of year to draw any conclusions, it's a quiet time for estate agents and they are bound to undervalue, in my (cynical) opinion to try to get sales at this time. February is traditionally when the market starts to move again, let's see what happens then.

For those of you with the houses already up for sale it would depend how urgent the sale is, if you can afford to wait I wouldn't "drop your trousers" until you've seen the lay of the land, it's very difficult to pull them back up afterwards! :yes

We are in the (lucky?) position where we have only just got the ITA, which we will be submitting late January. That means that we will not be putting the house on the market until Feb. at the earliest, hopefully things will be a lot clearer then. :hopeso

Good luck to you all, this is a situation I'm not looking forward to addressing myself, especially once you have the pressure of a leaving date.

Mark. :P

[Karoline]

Hi people, finally there are two families interested enough to come by and have a look at our house! :P
One tomorrow and one at saturday.
Hopefully something comes out of this.
:hopeso :hopeso :hopeso
cheers
Karoline

[Rimbo]

I'm no expert on house prices, markets etc but I must watch a different TV channel than some of you. For months I have heard of a slow down, and each month the Abby or Halifax still report a *% increase. Last month has been the only month where an increase was not reported.
Yesterday figures were released that again showed a price increase even in the face of the last 5 interest rate hikes. Analysts were predicting that next year prices will go up by 2% on the whole (which is not much I know) and not the sudden drop that some analysts feared may happen. Analysts predicted that this years gains would be slow, instead we have enjoyed 14%. Having said that, it is also obvious that when analysts talk about “National Averages” they actually mean London and who cares about the rest of the country. Just like the Weather, “ooh it’s too cold outside and it’s raining so everybody indoors”. When London is experiencing a slight shower and the rest of the country is basking gloriously in the sunshine.
I have seen in my local area a good rate of increase over the past 5 years. In the last year (since we started to seriously look at moving away) I have still seen a massive increase. It may be that you may live in an area that had a larger increase than we did several years ago and we have only just started to catch up. There is often talk of a slow down but, as yet I still have to see prices drop.
I also agree with Mark, Feb is the time to sell and Agents will no doubt see a reduction in new custom over the next couple of months, as do Car salesman.
The other thing is Who puts house prices up?
Estate Agents do, they keep the increases moving to get the best for their customers and their commission. If people are willing to buy then the price is driven up. When the BO England steps in and increases rates, people are not so willing. So you have to reduce your price. Sorry!

John

[Glenda]

We know of a lot of people in our area who intend putting their house on the market January, and not all of them are emigrating. If that is indicative of the general housing market then I really think a lot of property will be moving and prices will be buoyant. :hopeso

Funnily enough, the obvious time to sell is in the spring when the garden and surrounds are looking nice, but I wonder if I am picking up a sense of urgency to sell quicker? Probably before the expected election in May?

Glenda

[Diny]

Rimbo

You make some very good points but I can only comment on what we have/are experiencing.

This time last year, a house in our village would go up for sale and within a week there'd be a sold sign outside.

Typical of us - we missed the boat on this one, when we got ours valued in September all 3 agents who came to offer their services said that 6 months ago we could have added another 20k onto our asking price. There are plenty of houses in the village for sale now and they have all been on the market for a matter of months.

Thankfully the only reason we're wanting to hurry things along is our own impatience - we don't have any job offers about to expire. Because of this we are adamant that we won't be dropping the price.

Maybe we are in one of those areas that experienced a rapid rise in house value before other areas did. We bought this place just over 6 years ago for 77k - it's now on the market for 247k.

I still can't claim to have any qualified knowledge about the projected housing market for early 2005 - I just know that headlines like that plastered across the front of one of the nationals can only have a positive effect - my line of thinking is ........ Mr Joe Public hears that prices are about to rise again and thinks "quick - lets get buying before they go through the roof". Maybe I'm being over simplistic but it works for me. I simply regard the news as a very welcome light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel.

Diny

[Rimbo]

Diny,
It's also down to luck at the time.
6 years ago we were willing to pay £79k for our house, the house had been on the market for about 8 months. So we at the time were the only ones willing to buy.
Weeks later another sold in our Close for £69k even before the Sale sign went up and it needed work. A month later another came up for £85k, a year on another for £95k. Now we're expecting over £210k.
The right buyer will turn up, don't worry. The previous owners of our house must have thought that they too would never sell after months of inactivity. Then there was an influx of buyers.
so :hopeso

John