Bath

[tastingstars]

Some friends of ours have a property on at the moment - I won't divulge the price or the size, but it's a lot of money for a not-very-big-at-all period house, albeit that it's very nicely presented and most importantly very, very close to an outstanding state school.

It's been on for weeks with a local agency and Rightmove, and a year ago there would have been a bidding war. This year - no-one has come to view at all, not one single person.

[chas]

Some friends of ours have a property on at the moment - I won't divulge the price or the size, but it's a lot of money for a not-very-big-at-all period house, albeit that it's very nicely presented and most importantly very, very close to an outstanding state school.

It's been on for weeks with a local agency and Rightmove, and a year ago there would have been a bidding war. This year - no-one has come to view at all, not one single person.

I was talking to local partner of big bath mixed agency and he admitted that things were 'very difficult' also an agreed BTL deal fell through because purchaser did not have enough the 130% rental cover for the small mortgage that he needed, even though purchaser was wealthy enough to buy it outright.

Mind you one local agency was trying to sell ' a very good high yielding investment property', but when you run the figures the gross yield was 4% Pure dreaming. I think that for BTL to be realistic gross yields have got to be 6-8%. This means either rents increase substantially (unlikely as bath is a relativly low wage economy) or prices will have to come down substantialy.

My view is that taking the speculative premium & BTLs out of the market should give us the 30% reduction in prices that is being talked of

There quite a few Agents in Bath, if they are going to stay in business thay are going to have to get their vendors to be a lot more relaistic in their priceing.

Edited April 20, 2008 by chas

[Stonehenge )z]

I was chatting to an estate agent client earlier this evening and she was saying someone had to move from £325 k to £260 to actually achieve a sale recently .

This is in Hampshire and there is a real log jam of people who want to move who have put offers in on new properties but can not sell their own at anything like their expectations .

...I seem to remember hearing this sort of talk at the beginning of the last house price nose dive ...back in the late 1980s

[chas]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/gallery/20...cture=333601963

Not sure whether or not this link works or not.

The agency seems to have a reputation for overpricing.

Edited April 20, 2008 by chas

[Solarscape]

I was talking to local partner of big bath mixed agency and he admitted that things were 'very difficult' also an agreed BTL deal fell through because purchaser did not have enough the 130% rental cover for the small mortgage that he needed, even though purchaser was wealthy enough to buy it outright.

Mind you one local agency was trying to sell ' a very good high yielding investment property', but when you run the figures the gross yield was 4% Pure dreaming. I think that for BTL to be realistic gross yields have got to be 6-8%. This means either rents increase substantially (unlikely as bath is a relativly low wage economy) or prices will have to come down substantialy.

My view is that taking the speculative premium & BTLs out of the market should give us the 30% reduction in prices that is being talked of

There quite a few Agents in Bath, if they are going to stay in business thay are going to have to get their vendors to be a lot more relaistic in their priceing.

Well I haven't seen any meaningful reductions here yet compared to some other areas in the West. Yes, Bath wages are relatively low, but with two universities and the influx of London money, I'm not holding my breath. I mean look at what £200k and under buys you on Rightmove!

[Wemb]

Well I haven't seen any meaningful reductions here yet compared to some other areas in the West. Yes, Bath wages are relatively low, but with two universities and the influx of London money, I'm not holding my breath. I mean look at what £200k and under buys you on Rightmove!

B*gger all is what 200k gets you. I've been looking...

Plenty of 5-10% drops at the real dog-end (i.e. properties I can afford) end of the market, but even still, I'm not going to be spending 110k on a bedsit (sorry, 'studio apartment').

[Solarscape]

B*gger all is what 200k gets you. I've been looking...

Some of the prices achieved in the less salubrious parts of town almost beggar belief.

Just been looking at nethouseprices and someone paid £163k in June 07 for 77 Rosewarn Close in Whiteway (described as the absolute bottom of Bath's social housing barrel on Chavtowns.co.uk). It was previously sold for £46,200 in July 2000. Costly mistake methinks.

[tastingstars]

Some of the prices achieved in the less salubrious parts of town almost beggar belief.

Just been looking at nethouseprices and someone paid £163k in June 07 for 77 Rosewarn Close in Whiteway (described as the absolute bottom of Bath's social housing barrel on Chavtowns.co.uk). It was previously sold for £46,200 in July 2000. Costly mistake methinks.

Whiteway is just astonishing - it's like Fort Apache The Bronx with Somerset accents. It even makes Twerton look classy.

Edited April 30, 2008 by tastingstars

[Wemb]

Whiteway is just astonishing - it's like Fort Apache The Bronx with Somerset accents. It even makes Twerton look classy.

Nothing wrong with Twerton. People are dying to live in Twerton. They're even calling Snow Hill the new Twerton.

Wemb

[Solarscape]

They're even calling Snow Hill the new Twerton.

Wemb

Only cos they've moved out all the scum to Fox Hill and Odd Down

[Spondulix]

Well I haven't seen any meaningful reductions here yet compared to some other areas in the West. Yes, Bath wages are relatively low, but with two universities and the influx of London money, I'm not holding my breath. I mean look at what £200k and under buys you on Rightmove!

I think it depends what you're looking at. I've been following Bath since last summer (latterly with property bee) looking at houses from (a) south of 250k (what I think I can afford) to ( north of 300k (what my wife thinks we need to spend). In the former category, *nothing* has been shifting for the last couple of months (maybe one or two student BTLs in Oldfield Park, to investors with cash). Reductions of 5 - 20k are almost ubiquitous (with the result that they have very little impact). Anecdotal evidence confirms that this market is, as the thread title puts it "stone dead".

In the latter category, there is a lot more activity --- stuff going under offer and SSTC, although a fair few properties come back (mortgage offer or chain fallen through) and 10 -20k price cuts are common.

Some of the reasons given above may explain this fragmented market (I'm sure if you studied flats and expensive city centre houses, yet another story would emerge). But how will it pan out? The influx of London money should wane with London house prices. Parents buying houses for their kids at university will be (already have been) credit crunched. So the market stasis and price-cutting should move up the chain from (a) to (. When houses formerly in category ( become category (a), my wife and I can both be happy. Hooray.

Bath *is* different --- there are many people here with independent means who don't need mortgages to buy property, or monthly wages to pay those mortgages. But are there enough to keep Bath an island of ridiculously expensive property in a sea of sinking house prices? I don't think so.

[Wemb]

But are there enough to keep Bath an island of ridiculously expensive property in a sea of sinking house prices? I don't think so.

Auntie Beeb is listing these numbers from the Land Registry. They must be seriously borken, surely?

NAME AV PRICE (£) QUARTER ANNUAL SALES

Bath And North East Somerset £420,040 -25.9% 3% 88

[ReggiePerrin]

Hi

I'm starting to see some nice drops in Bath using PropertyBee: multiple 10k drops on sub 200k properties, even greater drops on 200k+ houses, and still they can't sell them. A lot of properties are going STC then back to available in a short period of time. Peasedown denialists are starting to see the light and have started dropping prices, some of them anyway . Far more properties have come onto the market than have been sold.

IMHO the Bath area is nicely setup for some massive price falls in the near future.

I'm sure it won't be long now before sub 100k properties start to appear again, I feel sorry (that's a lie BTW) for the morons who bought the last sub100k property in snowhill the other year.

Edited June 3, 2008 by ReggiePerrin

[tastingstars]

IMHO the Bath area is nicely setup for some massive price falls in the near future.

I agree with ReggiePerrin here - the house that started this thread has now been marked down more than 10% and attracted a bare handful of viewings - similar houses nearby are going on at another 10% below the reduced price. An awful lot of properties just are not shifting, and using PropertySnake, I'm starting to see 10-15% reductions becoming the norm, with very little selling.

[ReggiePerrin]

Auntie Beeb is listing these numbers from the Land Registry. They must be seriously borken, surely?

NAME AV PRICE (£) QUARTER ANNUAL SALES

Bath And North East Somerset £420,040 -25.9% 3% 88

Hi Wemb

I wonder if the figures are being effected by low turnover?

[Maltesers]

Hi Wemb

I wonder if the figures are being effected by low turnover?

Anyone knows how Chippenham and Corsham are doing? I suppose if beautiful Bath is suffering so will these areas. Any comments?

[tastingstars]

Some friends of ours have a property on at the moment - I won't divulge the price or the size, but it's a lot of money for a not-very-big-at-all period house, albeit that it's very nicely presented and most importantly very, very close to an outstanding state school.

It's been on for weeks with a local agency and Rightmove, and a year ago there would have been a bidding war. This year - no-one has come to view at all, not one single person.

Two months on and they have now dropped the price by the thick end of twenty per cent. Still not a sausage of interest. There is grass growing inside the local estate agencies and nothing but nothing seems to be shifting in Bath at all at the moment.

[Wemb]

Two months on and they have now dropped the price by the thick end of twenty per cent. Still not a sausage of interest. There is grass growing inside the local estate agencies and nothing but nothing seems to be shifting in Bath at all at the moment.

There's more and more stuff coming into my field of vision on Rightmove now (under 150k) - and some of it doesn't look utterly dreadful, either.

This, for instance, appart from being in the middle of nowhere, looks positively pleasant.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-218...=2&tr_t=buy

Still nothing in the city center but for top-floor bedsits for 120K+

wemb

[ReggiePerrin]

There's more and more stuff coming into my field of vision on Rightmove now (under 150k) - and some of it doesn't look utterly dreadful, either.

This, for instance, appart from being in the middle of nowhere, looks positively pleasant.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-218...=2&tr_t=buy

Still nothing in the city center but for top-floor bedsits for 120K+

wemb

I know you've been priced out for quite a while Wemb, I remember some of the posts you've made in the past, so you must be pleased with the way things are going at the moment ... I know I am The Bath housing market is stone dead atm, hopefully it won't be long before the muppets really start dropping the prices.

[Wemb]

I know you've been priced out for quite a while Wemb, I remember some of the posts you've made in the past, so you must be pleased with the way things are going at the moment ... I know I am The Bath housing market is stone dead atm, hopefully it won't be long before the muppets really start dropping the prices.

Well, spent my twenties piddling about, so didn't seriously start working till I was in my late 20's. Earning what I regard as a good salary now (30k) - but I'm 35, and given the prices in Bath, I feel like I'm facing an invisible clock more than some of my similarly aged female friends do.

But, yes, am looking in relief that prices are approaching sane now.

Wemb

[minkeygirl]

Well, spent my twenties piddling about, so didn't seriously start working till I was in my late 20's. Earning what I regard as a good salary now (30k) - but I'm 35, and given the prices in Bath, I feel like I'm facing an invisible clock more than some of my similarly aged female friends do.

But, yes, am looking in relief that prices are approaching sane now.

Wemb

We're in the same situation Wemb. My partner and I are in our mid thirties (renting in Bath). We're finally earning reasonable salaries (30ks), and have reduced our debts to nearly zero. Two years ago we were each earning 10k less, had 15k of debt and were getting increasingly depressed at the thought of never being able to buy a property... (having piddled away our twenties too!)

Funny how thing's change... Several friends of ours inherited / were given cash to put down as a deposit. At the time I was seething with jealousy - now I thank my lucky stars that we had those debts and simply couldn't afford to buy!

Hopefully the future's looking brighter

[Wemb]

Hopefully the future's looking brighter

I think it is, you know - just saw this:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-216...=5&tr_t=buy

You can smell the panic. No deposit? No problem! -snort-

Wemb

[leftiebeard]

Anyone knows how Chippenham and Corsham are doing? I suppose if beautiful Bath is suffering so will these areas. Any comments?

Have been tracking a period property just off Corsham High Street; in past 3 months has dropped from 425K to 375K. Appears to be very little interest, so expecting further drops.

[tastingstars]

To get back to the beginning of the thread, we're now three months on, they have knocked more than twenty per cent off the initial asking price and still not a sausage of interest. At this rate they won't get anyone round until they're thirty or maybe forty per cent down.

[Wemb]

To get back to the beginning of the thread, we're now three months on, they have knocked more than twenty per cent off the initial asking price and still not a sausage of interest. At this rate they won't get anyone round until they're thirty or maybe forty per cent down.

Have you a link on RM?

I'm seeing increasingly desperate drops for my budget (150k) with some (few) spectacular re-alignment of expectations going on which may help drag the rest of the market down:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-201...=3&tr_t=buy

Down from 160k to 140k in 2.5 months, and this bedsit

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-176...=5&tr_t=buy

down from an insane 160k to a meerly eye-watering 125k in 6 weeks - methinks a BTL in trouble.