[Oxford Howler]

Lunacy of course, but people are stumping up the cash.

Large terrace down on Southmoor Rd with Knight Frank, total wreck, busy street, no parking and hard by another new development, 625K. Several offers over asking price.

We saw a place last year across the street, didn't have garden backing onto the canal but it was in similar nick - sold at 530K.

You can now buy a far better, bigger, classier house in West London for less money. Shame about Heathrow's constant drone of course, and the lingering air of menace after nightfall. But that would imply that it's not London sellers moving here.

But we're only talking about a few streets that attract the any-price buyers. There's stuff beyond the ring road and in the Cutteslowe catchment that can't sell at 450K.

James C Penny has a three-bed terrace on the same street for sale at 300K. It's a wreck, compared to the oh-so-typical-design-wannabe 700K house, smaller and no parking. But it is four hundred thousand pounds cheaper.

Somebody's gonna get suckered. It could be us with our money fading away in the savings accounts, or it could be the Cayenne drivers.

Call your bets...

[kman]

my brother just bought a place on headley way, they accepted 330k asking as 380k

[leemo]

Well I was buying and have now bought and am quite pleased. I think the market's risen since I struck the deal last December, at least at the bottom end. That could be confirmation bias, but I don't think so. I can't see a comparable property on Rightmove for the same price now.

I still think houses are overvalued but its hard to call when they will correct. In the meantime you're likely to loose out.

[Oxford Howler]

Stuff is selling, can't be denied. UPDATE ... Second flat on Staverton Rd now under offer with Paul Murray. The agents' boards are still up, so I guess the other flats will be on the market soon.

A war of attrition grinding away in this provincial backwater.

Flats are going but OX2 house sales must be at an all time low. Moribund. The very things that keep the town so expensive - its insularity, backwardness and unwarranted self-importance - are producing a perfect and resilient bubble, clamping down on any movement between the property bands.

If rates don't go up, 4 bed family houses in OX2 will quickly climb to well over a million and then sit there for years, with only one or two moving each month in a near static market.

Petrification, but high prices.

Right, I'm off to feed the ducks and sink a few in the Anchor.

[peloton]

OX2 is insanely overpriced, partly because there is very little on the market. There is one Shearwater (newbuild) house left in Jericho if you have a mere 805K spare. They were originally offered at 775K but the price has been steadily going up this year as they have been selling. As for the rest you can take your pick between the tiny 300K cottages or the odd 1.5m villa with nothing in between. I can't think of a single medium size family home for sale (even in the canal side developments). And you can bet that there will be an unseemly scramble when something does come up.

The Anchor - you must live near me. What puzzles me about that pub is that it is surrounded by million pound homes yet it is deserted. Maybe things will improve since its gastro refit, or are the locals making cutbacks to save for their house deposits?

[Oxford Howler]

Anchor is indeed my local boozer. Used to be a real den of thieves until they tore out all the partition walls. (Probably not real thieves, North Oxford teenage softies doing faux-crim in cashmere hoodies). Now that the railway cottages on Harfield go for 400k I guess faux-crim is out.

Been too depressed to post of late. UPDATE...looks like all four flats in the Staverton mansion house now under offer. Sob.

And the property section in the Oxford Times is getting thinner and thinner...

[Oxford Howler]

more from the howler...

re: my post Jan 10th - aha...John D Wood hang your heads in shame. Same house in the paper this morning at 595K, 10% sliced from the asking. Buyers resist the drift outside the golden triangle and the outer villages are weakening. Still think they'll be lucky to clear 500.

Whereas...the three Frenchay Rd semis, from back in December, sale prices came through a few days ago.

895 for the stately three floor house, 800 - gadzooks - for the extended semi and 645 for the wreck.

Prices steely and rising still.

[kman]

My brothers buying like crazy in east oxford, he's just about to complete on another one off divinity road, 3 bed terrace was up for 295k, they accepted 250k, so that's 45k off, he managed to secure 50k off a previous property at the end of last year. I am worried though as these were both desperate sellers who had buyers pull out. He fully expects prices to bounce back within a year and he's borrowing form friends and family (me included) to buy as many properties as he can.

[kman]

Anybody else watching the oxford market? my brother wasn't happy when a 3bed semi on headley way two doors down from his went up for 250k and sold pretty quick though! granted it didn't have an extended kitchen and loft conversion and probably need refurbing but it was 80k less than he paid 3 months ago!

[kman]

X-QUORK, on Apr 25 2006, 09:03 PM, said:

Don't worry Kman, according to Kirsty and Phil on Channel 4, Oxford house prices will go up by 43% over the next 5 years. That said though, I'm just as likely to grow a second kn*b.

I don't want him to loose money, poor chap is fed up of the rat race and see's this as a way out! he's purchased 4btl's in oxford in 3 yrs, granted 2 are doing well in terms of appreciation. Hopefully I can convince him to sell before it's too late

[Oxford Howler]

Back to the family house in North Oxford angst for a moment...

Dead market still..dross holding in the high sixes but nobody wants it, nothing else coming on.

But...

house we saw over in Jack Straws Lane last Autumn is suddenly back on.

Now this is a slummy executive bad taste stretch on the edge of Headington with a few attractive Victorian places. No services or shops within walking. Anyway, old coach house come up at 610K, needs some work but it's pretty. We offered 590K I think, even though it was a few miles to the east of where we wanted, and we're not medics so no need to be close to the vile cube monolith that is the Radcliffe.

Turned us down flat and the agent was smirking all the way to his two door beamer.

Bid frenzy up to 690K. Not worth the money but when people want something they overpay.

Anyway, the deal must have folded because today it's back on, still a bit of a wreck but now they want...

715K.

Oxford as a whole has gone down 9 percent this year according to the Halifax thread data. In OX2 they might get away with it, but I think they're struggling here.

And is that 690K plus the stamp?

Wonder how long this will linger...

[Oxoniensis]

I am thinking of buying a house in South Park/St Clement's. You can easily walk into city centre from there, and it is close to all of South Park, Headington Hill Park, and the Angel Greyhound Meadow. Also easy access to the hospitals and to Brookes. And did I mention being engulfed by Oxford University with the new Islamic Centre to the East. And Cowley Road nearby undergoing redevelopment and gentrification. Am I missing something or is St Clement's Oxford's next hotspot?

[Oxoniensis]

Deathly silence... Have I offended the North Oxford posse? What do they think about St Clement's?

[Oxford Howler]

Oxoniensis, on May 8 2006, 10:58 PM, said:

Deathly silence... Have I offended the North Oxford posse? What do they think about St Clement's?

Sorry Oxoniensis, been away from my desk.

Well, those phrases like "easy access" and "hotspot" in your post just troll me out baby. You don't sound like someone who wants to make a home here and who would naturally lament the fact that prices are crippling. Your St Clement's analysis is all too celebratory and banal - like a list of bullet points on a clipboard.

But if you're for real, then good luck. Personally, "hotspots" are the kiss of death to the few things I like about this town. I don't need any more portly, mid-30s, fleshy management types with their German cars moving in. So I would say, avoid the hotspots. Find a quiet corner with some local cranks and you'll have more of a home.

And on to my latest North Oxford dispatch...

After the bid frenzy around houses in December, agents have started pricing higher. House on Jack Straw's Lane - outside the zone but qualifies with medics I guess - came on at 610 last Autumn, bidded up and sold at 700. Deal must have fallen through as it's back on - at 700. Now under offer to some poor loon.

I was hoping that the excessive price rises might flatten the market, and it seems to be happening around Summertown. Places are sticking. Bad news is that high prices have brought a lot of landlords out and they're selling the family houses - three or four now on along Thorncliffe. More stock might be causing the sticking. Some agents are getting wise now - Buckell and Ballard - pricing low again and waiting for the offers to roll in. And here's the rub. Agents have learned that they can get a better price if they let a few buyers fight it out from a lower price.

Regards Norham Manor - nothing happening. One place on Southmoor at a stupid price and I think it's sticking. A few smaller places on the Golden Mile - Walton Street and extensions - but they don't seem to be flying either.

Will it all finally croak over the summer?