Northampton/northamptonshire

[TheCountOfNowhere]

I live in Northampton and have recently sold my house and moved into rented accomodation. I have a very healthy bank balance and have been looking for a "dream home" for the last 2 months.

I have a budget of around 450K and I'm walking into houses and shaking my head at the asking price of some of them and thinking, are you joking !!!

I've been watching prices daily and I'm seeing asking prices of some of the top end properties dropping considerably, but then selling at more realistic prices.

The estate agents seem very keen to get me through the door of any property Ill agree to view. They've also been saying that no one is offering asking price with most places going at about 95% of asking. Im not sure why they think "double garage a necessity" means "no garage, parking on road".

I also heard a rumour, so take this with a pinch of salt, that one of the larger agents with several branches went a month without one sale !!!

I actually offered on a place which was on at 500K, down from 540, I offered 450K, they didnt bite but I subsequently found out that the house in question sold for that as a new build 4 years earlier. Even if the sellers achieve 95% of asking, 475....they wont have made much, if anything, in 4 years, what with stamp duty, legal fees and agents fees.

Surely that would put anyone off buying a new build or indicates that the Northampton Market is already in a shocking state of affairs ?

Ive been keeping an eye at a few places around the 250K market and theyve not shifted in 6 months but the asking prices arent dropping much.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on what is happening in the Northampton/Northamptonshire property market ?

What's the bottom end of the Northampton Market doing ?

I cant believe the number of flats being build...who is buying them ?

[HouseDog]

Continue to rent, there are loads of properties for rent so you will always find a lower priced deal - you will save yourself a fortune in the long term.

Northampton has a vastly over priced housing market which has been ramped up mostly by the one dominating estate agent in the area.

As far as I hear and see nothing is selling at the moment and William H Brown has 'Sale Now On' signs in their shop window. Thats not a sign of a happy market!

I think Northampton will experience a drop of between 30 to 35 % over the next three years. Just have a walk around town centre on a Saturday, people just don't have the money to buy even the cheaper stuff and many shops have closed down.

Try saturday night and even now the students are back, the place is all but dead.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Hi HouseDog.

I will definitely rent for the forseeable future. I was keen to buy again but now after the last 2 months of looking, I dont think so. It will be very interesting to see what happens over the next few months, that should give us all a good idea of what is coming.

Im totally with you on the state of the local Northampton economy. The place is shutting down !!! I know a market stall owner and they've said it is dead now. Northampton Market used to be thriving. Only the weekends are saving them at the moment and they are thinking of moving onto a different market.

If you go into the town centre during the week days the place is empty. The weekends dont seem too bad at the moment. If you compare if to Milton Keynes though, they are doing something right down there, that place is booming!!!!

Is it my imagination or is Northampton full of eastern european immigrants too, they have probably been keeping the BTL market going, and are making the place look busy. I fear a lot of the money they generate is going back to eastern europe. What will happen if they wise up and realise there own economys are stronger now and head back home !!!

I've noticed apartments ( that's a flat to a normal person ) up for sale in the town center for 250K ... I know many people in Northampton but I dont know anyone with that sort of money to burn on a town center pad, you can still get a half decent house for that in Northampton.

Who is buying these things ?

I personally think people (all round the country) are starting to wise up to it now and thinking that 250K for a tiny square box in a crap town centre is just ridiculous, they will spend the rest of their lives paying that mortgage off and never progress up the property ladder. Who is going to buy it off them if they try to sell, not too many well to do professional types in Northampton to spend that sort of money on a second hand flat. Anyone going near a new apartment in Northampton should be asking questions of the market.

Regarding the state of the Northampton town centre nightlife at the weekend. I do go out a fair bit and I have noticed that friday nights are totally dead. Its like a ghost town. Saturday nights can still be busy though. I was in town last Saturday night and I have never seen the place so packed!!!

Any thoughts on the "Upton" housing estate ?

Shouldnt town houses be build in a town, not on an estate, surely its not a cynical ploy by the developers to fit as many houses in one tiny space and pretend its trendy to live in a town house 4 miles from town in a flood plane ?

[Airmech]

Upton is a total disgrace just like those "Eastern European" dumps opposite B&Q . Had a Sparky working on my old house last year and he was saying "I love working on these 1940's houses, just come from those ones opposite B&Q. Can you imagine them still being there in 25 years!!!"

Banged out of Northampton as I just can't get on with the council's attitude to running a dump and driving it further down. while welcoming a massive influx of immigrants . Quote from my sister-in -law "Just come from Morrisons on the old Cattle Market . it's that bad in there you feel like you need a shower when you get back from shopping"

Mega overvalued. Only benefit is reasonable transport links so it's easy to get away from.

[Aiming for 2nd rung]

I agree with Housedog's comments and renting would be my advice too.

We own, but were lucky enough to buy back in '99 (through luck, not judgement - we were rather naive FTBs ). I wanted to "move up" about 3 years ago, but prices were ridiculous and we'd just had our first child, so we're still in the same house. STR is not an option for us unfortunately.

The market in Northampton is vastly overpriced. I've lived here for >10 years and am amazed at what people are prepared to pay, especially in some of the more run down or dodgier areas.

There's a lot of new or recent builds (Upton One, the appartments down past The Royal and Derngate, St Crispins, Wooton Fields, Grange Park), but they are all asking far too much.

Northampton is also changing, and not for the better IMO. Shops are shutting down.

Walking into town along the Wellie Road, there's a number of long established shops closed down, replaced by yet another Hairdresser or Eastern European shop. Looking through EA's windows on the same street, they seem to be very quiet. We've had no end of leaflets through the door from EA's offering free evaluation etc.

On the rare occassions I wander into town on a Friday or Saturday night, it still does seem to be heaving. As much as I try to avoid Bridge Street (it's all pubs, clubs and Estate Agents), the night life there seems to be thriving.

I feel personally that prices are slowly coming down.

As an example, I've been watching this place Colwyn Road End of Terrace. It's been on since Jan '07 when it was £329,999. Dropped to £319,999, and then changed Estate Agent and was relisted for £300,000. OK, you only have my word for it, but there are plenty of other places like it.

I would say that in the sub £250K things are moving, although slowly.

The Property insert that comes with the free papers seems to be bigger each week, but the number of houses marked as New Price or Discount is also increasing.

Last week, driving home, I noticed three houses in a row on Ardington Road. All had Jackson Grundy for Sale Signs up. I figure it's a BTL'er getting out. Must be quite a longtimer as there's no sales listed on these numbers in land registry data going back to 2001.

Managed to find them on the web and they were also listed in last night's property section.

http://www.hotproperty.co.uk/estate_agents...m?searchString=

Still overpriced, even when you take into account it's 3 houses! I wonder if they'll end up splitting them, or whether they'll just chase the market down?

PropertySnake does have quite a few properties with reasonable drops.

My overall feeling is that house prices are coming down here, but the local economy and community is coming down with them.

There are some nice'ish villages in the surrounding areas though: Wootton (ok, it's still really Northampton Town), Roade, Hartwell, Flore, Milton Malsor, Kislingbury which are probably worth looking at renting in.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

It sounds like everyone on this post so far has the same opinion:

+ The house prices in northampton are too high...i laugh at some of the house prices i look at, especially some of the new builds and "trendy apartmenst", anyone buying them really need to have their heads looked at in my opinion. Is it trendy to put yourself into massive debt that you will never recover from ?

+ The prices are dropping...ive been watching them closely and have seen 2/3 places i was fairly interested in when i viewed them slowly dropping by a significant amount, i.e. 10-20%...im still not convinced they wont drop further, so im still waiting and renting.

+ The town center is going rapidly down hill...i actively avoid the place now and shop in MK. Im not sure what impact the eastern european immigrants are having on the town but I hear a lot of negativity about them. I used to like living in Northampton, not any more.

I've also noticed a lot of houses are really struggling to sell, some of the places ive seen have been on the market 6months+ now. I know of a place in far cotton someone bought for £122 and tried to flip in within 4 weeks for £145...its now sat for 6 months without a buyer, in not surprised, its a dump and anyone buying it would be paying 30K more than its really worth in my opinion. The owners must be crapping themselves.

I've also viewed a couple of houses that then sold STC then have come back on the market...at the same price.

I'd say the prices of the top end of the market was getting back to what it was 2 years ago, the botton does seem to be moving a bit but might plummet anytime soon.

I agree with the selection of villages listed. Northamptonshire is a beautiful county, it deserves a nicer civic center.

So, maybe the crash has actually started, at least in Northampton.