I have been following my local market (SE22) recently and have noticed an abundance of properties on the market recently (isn't December/January meant to be quiet?). I have posted on several price falls in the area on the Property Bee thread.

In SE22 there are 299 properties on the market (per Rightmove)

This includes 118 properties with 3 bedrooms or above.

It strikes me that this is an awful lot. The postcode covers an area of about one square mile (albeit reasonably densely populated with terraced housing).

my missus tracks s.London 'burbs - checks new properties every day on t'intarweb!

Slow tbh. Not much on, not much selling, prices very static if increasing. Our area is in and around zone 6 surrey/london border, with a focus on family homes. Im happy staying here but you know what women are like !

You could look at this one of two ways:

1) If there is an abundance of properties coming into a stale market it could be the turn for property cunsumption, ie people selling cos demand is stepping up.

2) The fright of a house price crash has well and truly set in and people are wanting to cash in at full value rent for 6 months and then sell at gutter pricing, dangerous either way as it is hard to say when this market will crash. I feel at the moment it is still early for the slump, this could go on for a couple of months then go either way. One thing that is for sure is that we will not see what happened in the early nineties where it crash's in spectacular fashion.
House prices will slump but then pick up again.
Even with all of the financial concerns with america, northern rock, consumer spending, and credit crunch this is literally a freeze on the economy at the moment.

The worry with many houses coming on to the market is that is creates a crash, panic crash.
If you were to find the right spec housing at the right price now it is still a good time to buy. Reposession season is now upon us and there are already some bargains to be had.
Specifically in up-and-coming areas. The prices may slump in the next year but when these properties come up the will come up in a big way, buy at gutter price sell at ceiling, easy lol

Are you an estate agent by any chance? It sounds to me like classis Agspeak... prices will pick up again, now is a good time to buy, the economy is temporarily frozen, could go either way.
The only way it's going to go up again is with massive inflation. I think the Japanese lost decade is a very good indication of where we are heading.

I have been monitoring the market in SE9 for around a year now.
Some interesting trends...

Example 1
Refurbished 4/5 bed in a good area of Eltham, but quite a busy road - the developer must be getting desperate now.
Started off at £399K back before Xmas, then went down to £364K, now is selling at £354K...
http://www.zoomf.com/detail/westmount-road...Q4Nw../

I don't think it show on propertysnake (which is getting less useful by the day).

Example 2
3 bed in an equally good area of Eltham, on a quiet.
Started off at £350K back in late autumn.
I actually emailed the EA back after they had sent me the details, cos I genuinely thought it was a typo!
I had viewed 2 almost identical properties in the same road a few months before, both of which were going for around £250K (yes £100K less), so you can understand why I thought they had made a mistake. However, after talking to the EA, I was informed that the seller had set the hugely-inflated price!! (What kind of EA would agree to that? ...erm, no comments please!) Anyway, it's still on the market (surprise!!) but now at £300K.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-962...=1&tr_t=buy

Anyone else seen similar trends in SE London??