I have a question for those selling a house in the UK at the moment because we are now in the situation of needing to buy there and need to understand what is going on.

The market appears to be turning but it may very well be newspaper hype. It is never easy to compare like with like when looking at houses, but the properties appearing on the rightmove web site appear to be getting more noticeably expensive. So, is it a case that prices are really rising or are people still asking more than a realistic value while expecting to accept a lower offer.

Hi ya
I think i depends on where you are and what your house is like, we sold ours in a week for an amount we were really pleaed with. But i guess it all depends, we may just have been very lucky.

House prices since Jan this year have risen back to 2008 levels with a 3.8% rise since June this year (according to Nationwide). Not sure we'll see that level of increase sustained but a recovery it certainly is (or a dead cats bounce if you're a nay sayer ).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8286028.stm

We put our house on the market 2 weeks ago, its in Sandhurst, Berkshire in the South East. We listed it at £10 000 over what the Estate Agent told us to!! We got an offer after a week at the asking price!
I know it is not complete and it may all fall through, but to me that is pretty good news!!!

Lucky for some - we had ours valued last year at £415k - surveyor was out this week and now says £330k (and that's after adding double glazing). Personally i think market has improved but the professionals are clearly not convinced.

My parent's are looking to buy in South Wales, the market has certainly picked up there...houses are being snapped up.

Linda

Not everyone likes double glazing.

Same here! Ours is now on for £125K less than it was originally valued at two years ago . Thank fully we didnt have to sell in order to come over here but its frustrating having a house over there still, and not being able to actually buy over here! Grrr!

You can do a search here for the areas you are looking at and the actual price sold will be displayed. It will be about 3 months behind but with give you an accurate idea of actual sale prices nonetheless:

http://www.nethouseprices.com/

OK, so did you price it above the recommended price expecting to accept a lower offer?

I think Sandhurt is a little unique though. probably a very, very sought after area. At least I hope so. Having lost a bucket on our house in Canada we are sort of hoping that thing will balance out a bit back home.

I bought a nice semi, with it's own drive way and in a decent enough area for approx 30k less than it would have been 3 years ago. Houses that are similar are now going for about 10 more, and I bought in the UK in about June.

I think there has been a definite movement in the UK property market, but feel that was a seasonal norm. Although there have been recent reports of more more mortgages becoming available for the first time buyers there, which will further stimulate the market. Another big problem over there that I was being told and seen for myself, is a lack of properties on the market in the mid range. This is due to negative equity experienced by recent buyers and a general feeling of caution apparently, if you are to believe what the BBC are writing about the issue. I found it quite a shock that there wouldn't be enough properties on the marke to chose from, but having initally put the offer in in April, and nearly losing the purchase in May, I went out to look for something else. All I could find was a terrace, on road parking and MUCH MUCH smaller that was anywhere near the price of the original modern semi. We completed in June after a long exchange period.

So, that's my understanding of what's going on at the moment, and I fully intend, no matter what happens and what our decisions end up being regarding a return to the UK, to keep my original purchase as an investment property, especially as the huge Snowasis development just outside Ipswich is being given the green light to go and there is nowhere near enough accomodation for the development or the tourists once it's up and running forecast for years.

The market here in Lethbridge is a flat as a witches tit though, so I don't think I'd be returning anytime soon anyway! But who knows! In the meantime we'll make the best of every day..........

Hope this helps!
Mrs M x

It is still only £5000 more than we paid for it in 2004!

We priced it at that as its got a large mortgage on it and we needed to cover our cost. My Mother has been living there and she is moving into a flat. We needed to get rid of it as we have a house over here too!
I think the South East/commuter belt is more stable, the prices didn't rise at the same % as other parts of the UK.

Ouch, looks like the estate agent was pricing aggressively low. We sold our house when we moved to Calgary in 2005 and were hoping that w ecould afford something sort of equivilent now eare are almost back in the UK. Problem is that we can't work out if it is worth looking at properties priced a little above our budeget with a view to making a reasonable offer.

I thibk it depends on where you are buying and the price range

Here in Hertfordshire I haven't been able to get what I wanted even though I was expecting a lot less than 2years ago.

As for putting it on at a high asking price and selling for less - I think that is very common over here especially in the current market. Buying and selling houses in the UK is a pain - nobody is bound until they exchange contracts so pulling out of offers or demanding a lower/higher price at the last minute is not uncommon.

Good luck

A friend of mine selling in the UK had her home on the market for nearly a year - eventually dropping from 415k down to 330k. About a month ago, she had two buyers arguing it out at full asking price and they got what they wanted - but obviously no-where near what they had hoped for.

Depending on how long a home as been on the market, I would think most homes are as low as the owners are prepared to take it - but personally, I would always go in with offers! If it's newly on the market, most sellers are still at that very hopeful stage.

A house in the village we left in Surrey has been on the market for about 14 months now - it went on at 399k and has stayed on at 399k. I am presuming the owners are refusing to lower it, or even take offers perhaps. I can't see them moving anytime soon.

Whatever your budget, always go and look at stuff 50k over anyway