Worcester, Alan Metcalfe, Humberts
"When valuing homes we now have to be very realistic as opposed to
optimistic"
When valuing homes we now have to be very realistic as opposed to optimistic.
Obviously a unique property can still draw a high price, but it also depends
on how quickly the vendors need to sell. There is a very mixed local market
in Worcester and no particular type of house is faring very well or very
badly. There is a slight glut of new-build apartments on which developers
are now having to offer good incentives.
Northampton, Quentin Jackson-Stops, Jackson-Stops & Staff
"If vendors are realistic then it's easy enough to find a purchaser"
There is no doubt that values in general have fallen - we're looking at 7.5 to
10 per cent in Northamptonshire. It really depends on the quality of the
property and of course on location. Poorly located homes have taken the
biggest hit. Further up the market is solid. Country houses over £1.5
million are pretty safe - but there is no additional 'froth' on the price
these days and we have seen less competitive bidding. We have achieved some
decent prices though. Individual modern houses are not doing too badly, but
anything that is part of a development is harder to shift. Well-presented
cottages and village houses are doing fine but those with some flaws are
taking longer to sell. Vendors must be realistic as we are now setting
values at a similar level to 2005 and 2006. If vendors are realistic then
it's easy enough to find a purchaser. 29 per cent of the properties listed
with us at present are under offer, which is a reasonable proportion and a
similar amount to this time last year.
Telford, Tony Morris-Eyton, Savills
"Good properties in good locations pitched at appropriate prices are
selling, but overpricing will kill a sale right now."
This week we're having a mini boom; we have received offers on several houses,
one at £2.25 million, one at £2.5 million, one at £2 million, one at £1.75
million and one at £1.6 million all in the last week - which wasn't
happening three weeks ago. There is still confidence in the upper end and
people are feeling less gloomy than they were a month ago. The market is
still excellent for homes over £2 million. People are cautious but the
market is still OK for homes between £1 million and £2 million. Below that
you have to pitch the price correctly for it to sell. The £500,000 to £1
million market is subdued and below that it's jolly difficult. Good
properties in good locations pitched at appropriate prices are selling, but
overpricing will kill a sale right now. Prices have fallen 10 to 15 per cent
from their peak on most homes.
James Naish, Naish Estate Agents, York
"I think this state of affairs will carry on well into next year, though
I'm sure it will get worse."
We've reduced prices by up to 10 per cent compared to last year. Sales figures
are certainly reduced. There will always be some sellers who are reluctant
to accept this, but most are more reasonable now. The worst hit are flats at
all prices, but especially new-build. The least affected are top end
properties in York over £500,000 - they still seem relatively buoyant, but I
expect that's due to an inevitable time delay. I think this state of affairs
will carry on well into next year, though I'm sure it will get worse. We've
found last month a lot busier than the beginning of the year. The lack of
supply keeps some prices reasonably healthy.
Jonathan Clayton, Bentley Higgs & Co, Blackpool
"Everyone thought all city centres were like London - but they're not"
I've just come back from Manchester looking at city centre flats and I'd say
both there and in Blackpool they are down at least 25 per cent on this time
last year. And who's to say it's not going to get worse? My theory is that
prices will come down to what it costs to build them - when we get there
you've wiped out developers' profits and they will become good value.
Everyone thought all city centres were like London - but they're not. In
Central London flats are expensive, but not as expensive as a big house. In
Manchester, some flats were priced at £600,000, which is the same price as a
big house. So there's no value for money there. And there's too many of
them. A modern 4-bed house on an estate will have dropped by 8 to 10 per
cent this year, and bungalows for the retired market have faired better,
with only a 5 per cent correction. Good quality country houses up to £3
million have been least hit. I think we're half way through the cycle - by
the end of the year there might be 15 to 20 per cent off everything, and
then it might stabilise.
Tom Donald, Donalds, central western Scotland (provincial areas outside
Glasgow such as Kilmarnock, Ayr, Lanark)
"People are worried about affordability and the mortgage famine"
Prices are definitely reduced. The biggest mistake an agent can make is to
overprice, because people won't even come and look. With the Scottish system
of "offers over" a certain sum, the perception is usually that you
have to offer substantially more than the guide price, but now people are
not sure where they stand. The rural market is relatively immune because
supply is scarce, but even there I would say sellers should reduce asking
prices by at least 10 per cent if you're going to stimulate interest. As for
urban property, in the middle ranges things are very slow indeed. I've just
visited a newbuild site of detached house at around £300,000, which shall
remain nameless, where one phase has not sold a single unit this year. At
another, better site in the same location, they've taken 3 or 4 deposits of
£500 each but they expect the buyers to walk away. People are worried about
affordability and the mortgage famine.
Simon Edwards of Savills, Hampstead
"It is a classic buyers' market, which is a 180 degree turnaround from
last year"
The £5 million plus market is holding up well, with falls that are virtually
insignificant in percentage terms. But if you look at the lower end of the
market where buyers are more highly geared and need to get 90 or 100 per
cent mortgages it is very difficult. Sellers must accept significantly lower
prices: the few that are, are the few that are selling. It is a classic
buyers' market, which is a 180 degree turnaround from last year. Then
sellers could set a price and refuse to sell if buyers didn’t meet it, now
you set a price and hope to achieve it.
A year ago you could put a house on the market for £1 million and sell it for
£1.05 million; now, it would probably make £950,000. That £100,000
difference effectively means a 10 per fall in prices.
The studio and the one-bedroom flat have suffered the most, because first-time
buyers are feeling the crunch. Discretionary purchases, such as the
three-bed flat, which is a stop-gap property, are also suffering. But the
family house with garden is still selling, because people will continue to
have children and need such homes. Only the best properties are trading,
because the cash buyers in the market have so much choice. If you want to
buy, you need to be in the position where you have cash, or put yourself in
that position by selling up.
Richard Hair, Hair & Son, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
"It’s been worst in areas with major buy-to-let demand..."
Prices fell a little bit before Christmas but nothing significant. But the
biggest fall has been in the past three or four months, in which time we
have had a price fall of 6 to 7 per cent. It’s been worst in areas with
major buy-to-let demand, such as Chelmsford and Colchester, where there have
been major flat developments. They have been hit by a double whammy of
buy-to-let buyers having become an almost extinct race along with first-time
buyers being unable to get the 90 to 100 per cent mortgages. The bottom of
the market has been hit hard, but the top end is not good and neither is the
middle. We are not prime City buyer territory, but we are affected by a lack
of City bonuses, because the line to Fenchurch Street goes through
Leigh-on-Sea and Essex is a commuter county. But there are properties that
are bucking the trend. A tiny detached three-bed house on a leafy road
opposite £1.5 million houses, which was close to the woods and the golf
course and which had been untouched since it was built in the 1960s, sold
for £60,000 more than the £440,000 asking price in two weeks. And it took
only three weeks for a seafront house that needed a total renovation at
£625,000 to sell for £650,000, even though surveyors were not very
impressed with the state of it. These were two potentially top properties,
which needed everything done to them. If you have got a property with real
appeal and just two potential buyers life is easy.
