Buying a House : How much are homes selling for as a % of asking price

I live in SW London, my neighbour last April decided to move to the West Country, had his house valued by an Estate Agent for £410K, and bought a house (using a bridging loan) near Bristol.

Anyone with any sense in years gone by would have sold the house for £410K and paid off the loan, but in the madness that is the current housing market this is what he did:

1) Put the house on the market at £440K. 2) House immediately snapped up by someone who unfortunately was unable to sell *their* house at £1.25M. 3) Put it back on the market at £450K

And there it stays. I don't see how people can conclude house prices are falling when sellers are *that* confident the market will come to them, but in the mean time you are right, beware the overpriced house.

Or, "I don't see how people can expect such high prices when the market is about to fall",

It's either sellers in denial or buyers in determined optimism - a stalemate.

That is definitely not a generality - in fact that ratio is often used to take the temperature of the market. In London it could be anything from the low 90s% (falling, or certainly a buyers market) to 100+% (gazumping) in a feverish rising market.

I suppose the falling market benefits buyers with regard to gazumping becoming a rare beast similar to that near Bodmin. What are the chances of having a builder of a brand-new property accept an offer below the asking price?

MM

92.8% for Greater London according to the latest Hometrack press release . They might give you figures for the post code area if you buy the report.

Daytona