Housing market

[Tommy2holes]

Great if your a seller and awful if your a buyer.

I'm getting married this month and looking to move out of our two bed rented flat into a 3 bed house.

Can't afford to buy with most places like £250k+ and saving 25k is beyond us at the moment and rentals are just crazy.

3 bed houses in dumpy areas now asking £1200 per month.

It's quite a depressing thought really. If we were asked to leave then we would be looking at going from £700 per month rent to like £950 just for like for like.

There must be so many people who are literally going to end up getting priced out of the market both to buy and rent in the coming months/years

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

congratulations on the marriage mate.

i'm also really worried about what i'll do about living. it's probably only a matter of time till i can't afford to rent a place. i live in London at the moment and have done for over a decade. i always thought i'd move back to Essex but i'm not sure if i will be able to afford to at this rate

 

[rigsby]

Great if your a seller and awful if your a buyer.

I'm getting married this month and looking to move out of our two bed rented flat into a 3 bed house.

Can't afford to buy with most places like £250k+ and saving 25k is beyond us at the moment and rentals are just crazy.

3 bed houses in dumpy areas now asking £1200 per month.

It's quite a depressing thought really. If we were asked to leave then we would be looking at going from £700 per month rent to like £950 just for like for like.

There must be so many people who are literally going to end up getting priced out of the market both to buy and rent in the coming months/years

1) make sure you vote out this June, if not it will just get worse.

2) I need to put my rent up

 

[OldBlueLady]

I know what you mean, the problem is also that buy to let landlords are snapping up an awful lot of what comes on at the lower levels meaning FTBs are often over-looked. Stuff is going for silly money in Benfleet at the moment - a three bed chalet needing total refurbishment just went for £285k - it's not even in a great road!

Also all the building work going on in the area at present, which is supposed to be providing affordable housing, well, on the new Redrow plot (Oaklands Park), the flats start at £240k. Again, these are still being snapped up by landlords and I honestly believe that, if a development is supposed to be for affordable housing, that there should be a caveat to say the properties cannot be tenanted for at least 3 years after being built. There are a few shared ownership places being built in the area, notably the new ones near Sadlers roundabout - they might be worth a look?

My daughter is also looking to buy in the area but she's competing with landlords and, needing a mortgage unlike them, we're also seeing that properties don't always value up when they're surveyed, so landlords with cash in the bank are getting them because they don't need full valuation/home buyers' surveys.

Doesn't help that some agents are going out there and valuing things about £30k above where things should be purely to get the property. You're then seeing most of them reduced more to where they should be when they don't sell at the ridiculously high level. The market in Benfleet is incredibly aggressive right now, with agents all chasing the same properties, which is why the over-valuing is going on. Then the touting is also equally aggressive in some cases - I've been truly shocked at some of the practice by other agents. I'd urge anyone looking to sell to shop around and to look at reviews - the ones who come in with the highest valuation aren't always the right agents to go with.

If you're looking, I'd also suggest you register with all the agents who cover the area you look in. If others are anything like us, then we phone or email out to those on our database before a property hits Rightmove (unless specifically instructed otherwise by the client), which at least gives them a heads up before all and sundry see it.

Good luck!

 

[Mad Cyril]

House prices are disgraceful.

In my opinion the only solution is a punitive tax on second and subsequent properties.

I imagine several SZs have buy to let's as investments and I don't blame them for taking advantage of the opportunity however there is something very wrong when even modest properties cost 10x the median salary.

 

[OldBlueLady]

House prices are disgraceful.

In my opinion the only solution is a punitive tax on second and subsequent properties.

I agree totally!

 

[Mad Cyril]

My bet is that lots of Londoners will cash in over the next ten years and the large houses in Westcliff will start to be snapped up and converted back from flats to houses.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I agree totally!

Don't you work for an estate agent?

Benfleet house prices are going through the roof. My house has supposedly gained 40-50% in the three years since we bought it.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Same up here. I was utterly shocked at the valuation of my current home, but it went in just over a week at the asking price. Even in the less salubrious areas of MK they're asking silly money for rent and purchasing. Glad I got on the ladder 14 years ago.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I know what you mean, the problem is also that buy to let landlords are snapping up an awful lot of what comes on at the lower levels meaning FTBs are often over-looked. Stuff is going for silly money in Benfleet at the moment - a three bed chalet needing total refurbishment just went for £285k - it's not even in a great road!

Also all the building work going on in the area at present, which is supposed to be providing affordable housing, well, on the new Redrow plot (Oaklands Park), the flats start at £240k. Again, these are still being snapped up by landlords and I honestly believe that, if a development is supposed to be for affordable housing, that there should be a caveat to say the properties cannot be tenanted for at least 3 years after being built. There are a few shared ownership places being built in the area, notably the new ones near Sadlers roundabout - they might be worth a look?

My daughter is also looking to buy in the area but she's competing with landlords and, needing a mortgage unlike them, we're also seeing that properties don't always value up when they're surveyed, so landlords with cash in the bank are getting them because they don't need full valuation/home buyers' surveys.

Doesn't help that some agents are going out there and valuing things about £30k above where things should be purely to get the property. You're then seeing most of them reduced more to where they should be when they don't sell at the ridiculously high level. The market in Benfleet is incredibly aggressive right now, with agents all chasing the same properties, which is why the over-valuing is going on. Then the touting is also equally aggressive in some cases - I've been truly shocked at some of the practice by other agents. I'd urge anyone looking to sell to shop around and to look at reviews - the ones who come in with the highest valuation aren't always the right agents to go with.

If you're looking, I'd also suggest you register with all the agents who cover the area you look in. If others are anything like us, then we phone or email out to those on our database before a property hits Rightmove (unless specifically instructed otherwise by the client), which at least gives them a heads up before all and sundry see it.

Good luck!

What Road was the chalet on?

 

[londonblue]

Same up here. I was utterly shocked at the valuation of my current home, but it went in just over a week at the asking price. Even in the less salubrious areas of MK they're asking silly money for rent and purchasing. Glad I got on the ladder 14 years ago.

You mean there are salubrious areas of MK?

On a serious note, aren't buy to let etc subject to a huge increase in stamp duty as of the beginning of this month?

 

[MK Shrimper]

You mean there are salubrious areas of MK?

On a serious note, aren't buy to let etc subject to a huge increase in stamp duty as of the beginning of this month?

Oh yessss...look up Lakes Estate or Fishermead. :stunned:

 

[Mad Cyril]

You mean there are salubrious areas of MK?

On a serious note, aren't buy to let etc subject to a huge increase in stamp duty as of the beginning of this month?

That doesn't affect those already in the club.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

The outrageous prices, especially in London are a big part in many shortages in services there. How could a new nurse, or junior doctor buy anything in the locale of hospitals?
With councils paying huge rentals for social housing of "homeless" or refugee groupings that ramps up rentals too.
Right to Buy, and the lack of new build council property are other factors in what is building into a "perfect storm" and the next BIG issue for coming elections/polotics.
New one beds on the Echo Priory site are being bought off plan for over 250k!

 

[MK Shrimper]

The outrageous prices, especially in London are a big part in many shortages in services there. How could a new nurse, or junior doctor buy anything in the locale of hospitals?
With councils paying huge rentals for social housing of "homeless" or refugee groupings that ramps up rentals too.
Right to Buy, and the lack of new build council property are other factors in what is building into a "perfect storm" and the next BIG issue for coming elections/polotics.
New one beds on the Echo Priory site are being bought off plan for over 250k!

Agreed. I had a one bed flat in an old Victorian block on the border of Stoke Newington & Dalston. Cost me £40K in 1997.

Now valued at over £400K.

The worst thing that ever happened to London was winning the 2012 Olympics. Normal people can no longer afford to live there with luxury apartments built for Russian Oligarchs to hide away their Rubles.

 

[londonblue]

That doesn't affect those already in the club.

No, but it will impact new purchases won't it?

 

[Pubey]

*Waves smugly from the north!*

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Agreed. I had a one bed flat in an old Victorian block on the border of Stoke Newington & Dalston. Cost me £40K in 1997.

Now valued at over £400K.

The worst thing that ever happened to London was winning the 2012 Olympics. Normal people can no longer afford to live there with luxury apartments built for Russian Oligarchs to hide away their Rubles.

Interestingly,the same sort of thing happened in Barcelona after the '92 Olympics (though there were also notable infrastructure improvements) too.The housing bubble burst here pretty quicky after the 2008 crash,however.Looks like London,presumably because of its "international city" status, is immune to that.

 

[Tommy2holes]

Exactly its a no win if you don't currently own.

Both myself and my partner work for the NHS and don't command big salaries and we can't afford to buy or rent a decent 3 bed property. For two people putting in the hours and serving the local community I find that hard to take.

 

[rigsby]

*Waves smugly from the north!*

When you stop waving you'll still be in the north.[SUP]​[/SUP]