paulry

I was speaking to my West London house letting agent earlier. She was saying that they can't get enough properties to satisfy demand at the moment and the same situation exists with house sales where sealed bid sales are increasingly the norm these days. Apparently, such is the shortage around London that the sealed bid offers increasingly far exceed the guide prices.

Molly Coddle

Are you thinking of selling up there?

Personally I think we have another year of increases at least.
The price of property in London is just crazy at the moment and I cant see it cooling off anytime soon.

koalakim

Hi

I'm back in the UK at the moment. In Brighton the prices here have gone up and nearly everything on Rightmove is under offer! A friend has just bought a one bed flat in Hove and couldn't believe how much they are now!

They mentioned in the paper about putting interest rates up to cool the market a little (would please my Mum).

Although I'm amazed things are shifting considering how hard it is supposed to be to get a mortgage now.

paulry

Yeah, I'm holding out for another year at least (copping a lot of flak from my OH for it though ). The EA seemed to think that there is a reduction of houses going onto the market at the same time as there is a scramble of buyers. Meanwhile at home in Aus the prices have dropped back a little over the past month. And the exchange rate is looking a little shaky too

paulry

They're looking at increasing at very tiny increments. I'd be surprised if it makes much difference.

Molly Coddle

I can understand where your wife is coming from though, shes probably sick of renting and wants to get a place to call her own. Having said that I'm sure it will pay if you wait a little longer though, maybe even 5 or 10 K more? Who knows, is it worth the wait or not. Only you two can decide Good luck

I once made a very tidy profit buying and selling a house at the right time, its all about timing. Mind you I was also young and stupid at the time and bloody blew most of the money....... So don't take my advice. Lol

paulry

Thanks. I share my wife's frustration but my argument is we've waited several years for things to begin to go our way so it would be silly to sell up now just as the positive trend is beginning. From our perspective we need 3 things to happen:

1. The UK house price to increase in value;
2. the Aus house prices to drop in value; and
3. the UK pound to strengthen against the AU dollar.

Back in 2010 all three were the opposite of above. I'm not expecting to have it all our way but two out of three would be good.

Molly Coddle

Well all three are happening right now aren't they? The Aussie houses are dropping, albeit rather slow.

That's one thing that really naffs me off, the price of Aussie houses, they are a complete and utter bloody rip off.

Molly Coddle

When me and the hubby first started our Aussie Journey, (thinking about it) I remember how cheap houses were in Aus, how things change huh!?

But you know how these things work, what goes up must come down!

Hopefully sooner the better as far as people like you and me are concerned.

Beoz

Do the sums. Figure out the profit you can make vs rental income, how long it would take to see the return, and the hassle involved as a landlord. If you were to sell in London, now would be a good time.

On top of that, a sealed bid is far nicer for the seller than a stressful auction.

paulry

Aint that the truth! We took over 10 years for us to get here. At the start of our journey in 1999 we could have bought two houses for the value of our house in the UK.

The trick will be to get all aspects lined up in our favour. If we win we'll have one fully paid off house (or close to fully) in a great area

Beoz

Concerned about what? You could always accept the fact renting is the future

paulry

Indeed. And also add in the cost to rent in Australia.

I'd hate to be a buyer in a sealed bid auction. In a hot market, the scope for buyers to pay well over the odds in order to "win" is huge.

Beoz

London supply and demand hey. Mainly investors with Euro looking to park it in pounds for a while. Creating panick buy across the capital which is having knock on effects to the surrounding regions. Unless your crystal ball is in top working order, I'd get out now. Eventually the Russians and the French will pick up their Euros and park it somewhere else.

Molly Coddle

Same as us then, we first started talking about it in 1999, I was pregnant with the now 14 year old and we still aren't there! LOL!

It better be bloody worth it!

You will be fine Paul, don't worry, it will all come together for you.





Yeah I could accept that and I probably will.

We have property here in the UK, which we wont sell until we are old and bald, so we wont ever be cashing that in for a house in Aus. So unless I become super rich overnight I probably will rent forever.

Us English are the most obsessed country in Europe when it comes to owning our own homes, so I read anyway. I wonder why that is.