Monday, Nov 17, 2008
Swap Shop
Timesonline: If you can’t sell your home, then swap it
Well-maintained fourbed detached house in one acre seeks three-bedroom cottage with small garden for serious relationship.” Welcome to the world of the property lonely hearts: house-swap parties at which agents, desperate to keep sales moving and the commission rolling in, attempt to match would-be buyers and sellers.
Posted by flintster1994 @ 07:35 AM (648 views) Add Comment
11 Comments
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1. 51ck-6-51x said...
Ah, so that's why there are less sellers in the market now ;p
2. Shipston said...
There's a new site being set up called www.fallingmarket.co.uk where people can upload the details of the house they want to swap and one they want to move to. It's not launched yet but is due to be on the BBC at the beginning of December and people can preload their details now.
3. jamonit said...
This might significantly slow prices falls if it becomes a trend. And property ownership then becomes truly the exclusive domain of those who already own.
4. planning4acrash said...
Fantastic, do you get around stamp duty and HIPS with this fabulous Barter system? You see, folks, politicians have broken the system so much that we just revert to organising ourselves, and you'll bet your bottom dollar, a house swap will be faster and smoother than any contract thought up by any government. Simply get private surveyors to assess the property, private lawyers to write an agreement, and, no tax, no hassle, move in a few weeks.
This could be the future of the housing industry. Anybody fancy barter with a few ounces of gold for a house? Apparently, houses in Chicago
5. planning4acrash said...
So, you see, you can have no official market, and have a thriving black market. We literally live in Socialist Russia now. You know that, during Communism, the central planners were so inept, that 25% of the food was grown/raised in the 3% of private land, whilst the remaining 98% of land could only muster 75% of the food? Private individuals are better at meeting private needs than government, PERIOD!!
6. Bertywooster said...
Barter is a benefit in kind and therefore taxable. They can swap all they want but each transaction is notified subject to tax and/or tax.
7. jack c said...
The headline is misleading as there is currently no facility within the UK to genuinely "swap" houses - all properties are sold or ownership transferred and this must be documented at the Land registry. This is nothing more than EA's working smarter and harder to generate the business they need to survive
From the main body of the article ------- So, how does it work? The process, generally advertised as a “house swap”, could more fairly be described as a house match. Two or more sellers agree to buy each other’s properties, but instead of being locked into a chain, they are in a closed loop, selling to each other, thereby making it less likely that someone is going to pull out.
8. plato said...
Agree p4 and thought of this some time ago. It's the concept of making big profit that has dampened such a method. However there must be a big market for such a method and even in cases of scaling down and swapping with someone who needs to scale upwards the difference can be worked out........ It's a brilliant solution and could run alongside affordable housing for FTBs but prices need to come down by 50% + from their height and in real terms. Bring it on!
9. mark wadsworth said...
This all seems rather jolly to me. But maybe, just maybe, there'll be somebody in the chain who would rather swap his house for a pile of cash equivalent to the value of the house he's going to get?
As Betty W says, such swaps are still subject to SDLT (and CGT where appropriate). Stamp Duty used to be only payable on the more expensive property. Under SDLT it appears that SDLT is payable on each property.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4259990.stm
10. Fjcruiser said...
nothing special about it. the reason these so called swaps work is that the sellers have agreed to sell at reasonable prices so of course they find buyers!
11. peter_2008 said...
This won't stop HPC. The value of a house must be accepted by the lenders, who have VI to undervalue it to reduce the exposure. So unless these are complete swaps without involving obtaining mortgage or remortgage, the lender will just give them the finger.
Imagining you tell your lender "I want to swap my £150,000 1 bed falt for a £300,000 2 bed flat, so I need to borrow £150,000." There is no difference from saying "I need to borrow £150,000 to buy my first flat, even though I know it will only worth £50,000 in 2 years time." I am sure your lender will just stab you 200 time and throw your deadbody out.