House price slump: impact on homeowners

I live in the North East of England, house prices here are also increasing, the only reduction is possibly 10% between offer price and actual accepted price, but that has been the normal way of selling houses, when it is a buyers market. There is however a disparity between houses in the £100000 to £170000 range which seem to have risen by an average of 14% per annum over the past 10 years, the £180000 to £350000 only 5% in the same period, I know my house which was purchased in 1981 for £54000 should now be sold for £360000 according to Nationwide house price calculator is being marketed for £320000, whereas my daughters house bought for £83000 in 2004 is marketed at £165000 in 2007. Hers are selling fast, whereas mine has not sold in 2 years of being on the market even after spending another £20000 on it to help it sell. My next door neighbour has had their house on the market just as long, and have reduced their asking price by nearly £50000 and also cannot sell. Both our houses have undisturbed private gardens with veiws over countryside my daughter lives on a high density housing estate where all the gardens are overlooked, small bedrooms and cars all over the street. In my veiw it is these smaller houses that are over priced, not the village houses in the countryside. hen I see evidence of these housing estate houses falling then I would concider reducing mine, but then the houses in the area that I want to move to are increasing in value so we have a catch 22 stalemate

we bought our first house in 2006 and looking at the market right now my house has certianly not gone up in price as much as i would have liked!

but now that i am a lil bit older and wiser i realise that possibly we like many other stary eyed 1st time buyers paid to much for our home.

i think that the prices will slow down and agree with the comments of the young lady who said that the house prices have been grosly over inflated in previous years and greedy people have seen the cash cow that was housing bite them on the backside!

people taking out 120% mortgages wre always playing with fire but anyone who can come up with a deposit and can buy somewhere to live not some where to just paint cream and by some candles and expect to make a 50% profit should be ok .

if you can live somewhere for 3 to 5 years and make your monthly payments then you will always be better off than if you were renting .

people need to realise that you get the benifit of buying a house over the long term just like the 25 years commitment we sign up to .

greedy estate agents telling you your 200k house is worth 250 just ads to the problem.
i love my house and that is the best investment i have ever made however hard it is to keep my head above water some times . if you have got on the ladder than fair play just dont think the impossible is possible.

I think house price depends on who wants to buy the house and it's location. You keep hearing about market is down but I have been looking at the houses and none of them seems any cheaper than they have been previously. In east midlands we keep hearing that it is buyer's market but none of the offers have been accepted, particularly by family of person who left estate to tehm. I am lucky that I do not have to buy house to live and I am only looking for investment butit is still expensive business!

note you are all London type people, here in the north midlands and Yorkshire, where my portfolios are based, prices are definatley down, and if you want to sell you have to be realistic. Am glad have completed 2 semi's, a smallholding and a big manor type house going outwards, all at less than asking price, but all cover their butt on money.

Coming in I have had a change of heart and are buying bottom of the market repo's, but they have to be cheap, if not i leave them, there's always another.
chantal

House prices here in the East Midlands (Kettering) do not appear to have dropped. As usual the greed of others will have to be paid for by the honest hard working amongst us, as the failings of the U.S. market is absorbed by the rest of us who have done nothing wrong in the first place!
I would not put money on a horse that was not going to run in the race!
Also why does this government feel the need to bail-out Northern Rock? I hope ,when im unemployed and my kids are starving that they have the same and help me out too!!

House prices are subject not only to market forces - but personal greed. Many owners simply refuse to sell at reduced prices , feeling they are giving something away. That strangles supply in an already undersupplied market - that keeps prices static or rising. Simple inertia - although the market conditions warrant a fall. If the market stays down the inertia will be overcome and real price drops will come. At present fear and mortgage restrictions are the key elements. Nothing will change drastically for a month. The lets see what the US is doing and reassess.

I do not believe that house prices are down, certainly not in London - central, outskirts or anywhere in-between..... After all, there are still not enough homes for all the people who want to live here and all the developers and the local councils are desperate for land on which to cram a few more dwellings.... As long as we do not over extend our borrowing, ensure that we have sufficient insurance - both on the loan repayments and on the building itself - to cover emergencies we should be able to get through this world recession as easily as we did the last..
If you do decide to move you should get at least three independent valuations AND do some research of your own - however for a quick sale your property is always worth less so in an area such as Camden which is so popular with the rental market this should also be considered and investigated - especially if you are moving somewhere cheaper.....
Many experts believe that England will suffer NO downfall in the houseprices - any apparent reduction would probably be down to the artifical high of last year when many properties exchanged hands at ridiculously overinflated prices.
DO NOT BELIEVE ALL THAT YOU READ IN THE PRESS......LIVE LONG AND PROSPER.

Find it hard to believe that house prices here in central London (W 1) are down. In last downturn local prices stopped moving up at the usual fast rate but never actually went down. In early 1990s tried to sell my house - it was easy at asking price. Changed my mind since it was obviously so desirable & have been living happily here ever since