A guy I speak to on another forum just posted this little snippet, he is based in south London (a relatively nice bit)

"...I was really surprised how little interest we got on her place (nice mansion block/good road) and eventually we had to take an offer which was a fair bit under asking price. The real eye opener was when it came to finding the new place, vendors were falling over themselves, eventually got a beautiful house for a very big discount, fixtures and fittings thrown in..."

Are you also a Charlton fan by any chance?

Indeed I am.

Been watching property around us SE24. Not much going on, and nicer stuff still selling though this house has so far come down a 100k! and it looks pretty nice!
<a href="http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&pid=631015&agentid=09982" target="_blank">http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.a...p;agentid=09982</a>

Also on SARF LAHNDAHN. Friend of the GF bought a studio flat 24 months ago in St Reatham. Unfortunately her rent increased £200 a month on the end of her fix. Going to be hard to pay for on Journo wages that!

Nearby in Wimbledon, the situation is "absolutely dire" (to quote an estate agent)

We started looking to move up the property ladder in Wimbledon in April, and it's been a very interesting process. We realized back in April that houses were taking a long time to sell, but many of those on the market in the spring are still on the market now, with vastly reduced asking prices. When we had our house valued in April, the highest valuation was £865,000 and the majority were around £835,000. We've since reduced the price to £785,000, but haven't had any offers, and one agent valued it last week at £750,000. I'm beginning to think that a realistic value is not much more than £700,000.

What is really striking is that local estate agents are all telling me that prices have dropped 10% since the spring. Why isn't this in the newspapers? Seems pretty newsworthy to me.

Needless to say, I don't think we'll be buying now, but we are still trying to sell.

Clive Rd is okay, but is this next to the esate-y new builds? In SE20 there's a lot of stock coming on and sticking on the market. One really nice place went very quickly but the rest are hanging about. A five bed near us was on for 399k for months, reduced to 385k and sold STC - then the credit crunch hit and now it's back on. I saw a big shiny suited man viewing it today (probably a developer wanting to split it into flats?). Little does he know that I'm currently serially objecting to proposals to develop the semi across the road into flats also.

After many months lurking - here's my first post

I'm looking to relocate to SE13 from W12 due to imminent family expansion. IMHO properties in the Hither Green are overpriced by at least 10-20%. I put an offer in on a place in Summer at a highish price (£370k) It was on for £390k and they would have taken £375k - but as much as I need a house I want to get it at a fair value so that was that - it's still on the market. I would only offer £360k now but the vendors still in fantasy land wanting £390k

EA's call me every week and I've told them to come back when the prices drop.

An EA pal in Forest Hill last week syas he valued a house at £400k in the Summer - but another EA got the business because they said they could sell it for £430k - needless to say the vendor came back to him and he recently sold the house for £380k. So 13% differential between asking price and actual sold price.

Very risky strategy indeed.

There's a few folk on this website who did this in 2004-5, when everyone was saying prices could not possibly go any higher. Time has unravelled the rest of the story.

Your primary residence is not for gambling with, no matter how certain you are of the odds. Only gamble with what you can afford to lose.

Back in Wimbledon, a friend of mine had her house valued at £1.25mn in April, and has reduced the price little by little to £975,000, but it still hasn't sold.

This is why I can't understand the prediction that the London market will remain strong while the rest of the country will go down. It seems to me that the areas that have been the most outrageously overpriced - and pushed up by outrageous City bonuses - will see the greatest falls. Maybe this won't be true for smaller properties, but it certainly looks as if it is happening already for £1mn plus properties.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...c=59880&hl=

Yes I know, and we might not have the guts to sell-to-rent in the end. (We're very cautious people.)

But the arguments for a house price crash look pretty convincing, and the evidence is beginning to stack up.

I live in wimbledon and my nextdoor neighbour ( a professional landlord) has been saying exactly the same thing.

Yes, everyone seems to be saying the same thing, in Wimbledon.

I recently went to see a mortgage adviser at a local estate agent - he's in a really good position to see what's actually happening - and he said that, even though prices have been reduced across the board, offers are now coming in at around 10% below the asking price.

So it does seem as if the crash is already happening in the more overpriced parts of London.

just to balance this up, my mate and his gf bought their 2 bed flat in central wimbledon fort £250,000 in 1Q 2006. They have just sold it for £350,000......

current SW19 stats...

rightmove, 712 - propertysnake, 336

landregistry monthly sales volumnes, 07 and 06

june 146 (197 LY)
july 148 (195 LY)
aug 133 (206 LY)
sept ??? (212 LY)
oct ??? (174 LY)

so, rightmove vs land reg, approx 5½ months supply of houses for sale based on august volumes.



but, of course, the market is underpinned by
* sound economy (snap, crackle and pop)
* robust employment (estate agents, financial services etc)
* subdued inflation (yeah, right, £1+ per litre)
* low interest rates (compared to 1980's)
* continuing affordability (purple Audi anyone?)
* record city bonuses (hey, let's invest in a falling asset class)
* continued lack of supply (of cheap money).
* etc, etc

[quote name='nicko75' date='Nov 9 2007, 12:

That's interesting. When you say "just" do you mean this month, or a few months ago?

I'm only really aware of what's going on for £750,000+ properties. Our house was valued at £600,000 in both December 2003 and December 2004 and the latest EA valuation (last week) put it at £750,000, so it hasn't gone up anything like that much (plus we've spent quite a bit on it).

Viewed a 4-bed "detached" house (approximately 100cm between the house and next door) in SE London today: originally £329k in July, has stood empty for 4 months, and now down to £299k. Previously up with four different agents, now with just one.

The EA, who seemed like a bloke with a modium of integrity, said without prompting he'd originally valued it at £280k but the owners were refusing to reduce. The house was built 7 years ago and had tidgy rooms - the owners paid £210k for it in 2002.

The EA didn't flinch when we said we were looking at around £250k and were hoping to get a Victorian terrace for that soonish - they're currently priced in the £330-360k region. He just said he'd be 'pestering' us with phone calls if we were serious buyers - his words, not mine.

Postcode?

SE4

Looks like it's recovering for being let to a bunch of 18 year old sharers. And the kitchen is miniscule. Prefer the other side of HF park myself - Ladywell way.

That's where the in-laws live. It is a pocket of niceness, but a pretty small one.

Update on the house I'm watching near us (5 beds, was 399K, reduced to 385k - layout okay but decorated by OAPs). Now reduced to 375k. Okay, total reduction is still less than 10 per cent (asking price) but it's been on for a year now.

We have some good friends in Wimbledon and would like to but somewhere there. They just spent 250k doing up their place and got the agents round to value it. All the agents said the market has dropped 6-7% in the last 2 months so basically their house is worth no more having done the work.

Also, apparently sales have gone completely quiet and loads of houses are hanging around. There are houses on propertysnake in KT2, SW19 and SW20 which have really dropped and keep being reduced & don't shift.

We want to wait till the prices stop dropping and then buy somewhere.

Bit too close to Lewisham for me. Which is a big pocket of nasty. Lived on the High Street for a year and the yellow crime boards (before they stopped using them) changed headlines as often as the Evening Standard.

Brockley rocks, though.

My Theory:

The problem with wimbledon is that it is a really lovely area. It's not like one of those pockets of niceness (like blackheath) which is surrounded by shit holes. This makes it quite desirable.

However, there are hardly any good schools about, it is in Zone 3 and the Villiage (which is proper lush and is overlooking the common) is a good 15 minutes walk away from Wimbledon Station, finally, it and the poeple that have bought there would like to assume that it is a posh area like Kensington, or Chelseawhen in reality it's not even Richmond.

As a consequence it has become hidously overpriced by maybe 2nd time buyers who have moved into Raynes Park, and in central Wimbledon who assume simply because they have made it to the "wimbledon" area they are now of the same calibre of the poeple that live in the Villiage and have effectivley "made it".

They then assume that "this is Wimbledon! it's proper posh (ie not sutton) and then decide they can charge whatever they like for thier house (I think this has been a problem all over london: and why relitvley OK areas rise so much).

So now looking on rightmove they are carging £400,000 for 3 bedroom terraced houses and £250,000 for a poxy 1 bed nearer to south wimbledon than the "posh" part. This is simply ridiculous.

Generally the only new families of Wimbledon are the people that have got sick of shitholes like Tooting or Sutton and have wanted to move away. This is now completley unattainable. And because of the lack of good schools/ and it not really being Kensington or Chelsea the rich elite are not propping it up at the higher end.

My guess is it's a complete double whammy. Dry at the top (Posh Uber rich) and dry at the bottom (FTB's and new families). I think it's areas like this that will drop first:

Forest Hill/Crystal Palace (not quite dulwich)
Ealing and Brentfrod (not quite Kew)
Wimbledon / Putney /Kingston (not quite Richmond)
Balham + Parts of Streatham (not quite Clapham)

Not really familiar with east and north london so don't really want to comment

Well, Penge and Anerley is already static, will be interesting to see what happens to Beckenham as it's a bit nicer. Not sure I'd agree that brockley rocks - Homeview is gone now (video store that was like High Fidelity come to life). what's the betting it turns into an EA??

I don't really agree - there are some huge houses in SW20 (technically Raynes Park but known as West Wimbledon) because they are right by the common & also in between Coombe Estate and teh Village.

As far as schools - yup crap state schools but very good private ones (Kings College and Wimbledon High) so people moving to the area in posh houses generally send their kids privately

The areas I think will drop are Merton Park (which is SW19) as it has gone mad recently - houses selling for over £2m in scummy areas with the worst state school (Rutlish)

Agree. West wimbledon (or at least parts of it) are still ok, I think the real divider is Worple road and the bottom of the hill. Above edge hill (the rigeway etc) is "money Country", but anthing below the hill is where I reckon the problem lies.

Couldn't quit afford the Village, sent kids to rutlish or wimbledon college, but I *must* be rich cos I live in wimbledon. These are the areas where the top AND bottom are fallig out.

Our area (Herne Hill (not quite dulwich as well)) has had the most incredible hpi over the last 12 months. we looked at a house last decemember that needed a bit of work and was on for 475 went for 535. I am sure this would go for 1 million now. I am absolutely gutted i moved here and rented.
Things have slowed but things are still selling and stuff coming on for 30% more than they were bought for 4 months ago.

Can you believe that TWO houses in Mostyn Road sold for £2m+ it's completely bizzarre

Agree completely about the Worple road divide

The other area which I think will drop badly is the ex local authority palces in Southfields (SW18)

Everyone needs a place to live, so there is no option but to gamble one way or another. If a HPC would leave you in negative equity on your primary residence, then staying in it is a massive gamble in its own right. If it's largely payed off, then not. But either way, everyone has a position in the market whether they like it or not.

Excuse me moshmonster, Sutton is no way a Shithole. In fact, it has got voted the 4th best borough to live in London.

It is 15 minutes from the M25, has trains that run to Victoria or London Bridge in 30 minutes or less, has one of the lowest crime rates of any borough in London, has plenty of green parks, a pedestrianised high street, some of the best schools in London (i.e. Wilsons, Sutton Grammar), one of the best education statistics, and is also next to some of the best places to live in the UK (i.e. Epsom, Banstead). It is also has nice clean streets and a friendly atmosphere. It is also not beset with bad traffic jams like the rest of London.

Furthermore, it is a 10 minute train/20 minute bus from Wimbledon, yet houses are half the price!

Yes, I live here, have done all my life, and I can honestly say, that I would prefer to live in Sutton than most of London or the UK anyday.

Now take Croydon, Tooting, Streatham, Mitcham, Shepherds Bush, Acton, nearly all of East London - now wer'e talking shitholes

It's absolutley Crazy. Mostyn Road is just ridiculous. The hosues there are lovley but the area is grim I live on Martin way and the rutlish boys ar always causing problems that way. Far too close to haynt walk and all the dodgy ex council complexes round there. Just as well they have the LEather bottle to go to - otherwise it would just be the white hart or the emma hammilton ( what a HOLE of a pub)

JB1981.

Sutton is a shithole. make no bones about it. I went to school in carshalton and as a consequence still go there to visit. It has through such a DRASTIC degeneration that it's almost funny. It is Chav central, full of illiterate little shitty teenagers, has precicley ZERO good pubs or nights out. The bottom of the high street is now a hole of Fast Food and Gambling joints and the upper part is not much better. It is terryfying to walk down the high street due to all the boy racers anging around MCdonalds and KFC out of their souped up Novas.

Full of fake gold shops. The "grungers have moved away from the sqaure by weatherspoons cos theyw ere regularly ebing beaten up.

it's only saving grace is that it is not as shit as croydon or wallington or mitcham. that does not stop it being a shithole.

Moshmonsta, you are entitled to your (wrong) opinions. I am backed up with statistics to support my case.

As for being chav central etc. it is no worse than any other high street. It has also got good shops, nice pubs (if you know where to go) and I always feel safe on the high street, day or night. It does have fast food chains, but also lovely restarants in South Sutton. As for gambling dens, there is 3 along the entire high street!

As for Martin Way, that is the edge of the Wimbledon Chase council estate, and also has flats on it that look like prison cells. I should know - I've viewed some of them!

I think that says about as much about London as it does Sutton.

Oi, you forgot Thornton Heath, Norbury and Selhurst in your (s)hit list!

Voted for by who? Idiots from sh1th0les, I expect.

Tooting is a cut above the others, it's actually got some character to it. I live in Camberwell which really is a sh1th0le, so it's not local bias. Shep B only has the green going for it, and that's inaccessible or you have to dodge knives and bullets. At least it's fairly central.

My brother-in-law lives in Sutton (bought a simply ghastly 1-bed flat for 150K - god only knows why). It's a vision of grimness, made only worse by being all too real.

You can always tell a place is sh1t if people defending it say it's near other places. You don't get people from Notting Hill saying "it's only 20 minutes from Shoreditch, you know!"

We're looking to (ultimately) buy in HH. I've noticed some pretty sweet rentals around there, and a surprisingly high number of expensive/large properties coming onto the market. Fixed rates ending soon?

Quick update to the running totals (october figures after november update, dec 31)

june 146 (197 LY) -26%
july 148 (195 LY) -24%
aug 133 (206 LY) -35%
sept 150 (212 LY) -29%
oct 111 (174 LY) -36%

rightmove, 715 - propertysnake, 162


also, there are now 20+ properties below £200K. A few months ago, there were none.

quite a few of these cheapies are "no forward chain" - BTL anyone?

I thought Sutton came under Surry - not south London?

I've heard south Sutton is nice but the rest of it isn't particularly nice. Rose Hill and the huge council estate there is a bit dire, and the actual location isn't that great either; but there are far worse places to live than there. I think many of the cavvy residents in Rose Hill let the place down too - oh and the Co Op! And Bingo Hall.

Anybody know what effect new tube stations tend to have on house prices? The extension to the East London Line is finally due to connect SE London to the rest of the capital in in June 2010, and whilst I'm keen to buy a house at less than 2007 prices, I'm also keen to miss the upswing that may be caused by the improvement in the transport infrastructure.

Anybody had any experience with this - maybe living through the Jubilee line extension etc?

I think that most of the upswing in price was reflected last year when the extension was confirmed. Places near to the line saw major jumps last year.

Forest Hill seems to have been pushed up a lot in price for instance but there is talk that the opening of the line will actually mean less trains to London per hour so as this news filters out, it may mean the rises have been overdone?

I knew people who bought around Canada Water area before Jubilee Line was opened. Their houses certainly went up in price but everywhere was going up by then so hard to tell how much they went up compared to London overall.

Hi Isabella, where do you live/come from as you seem to know Sutton quite well.

The estate you refer to is the St. Helier Estate, which stretches from Morden Tube Station to Carshalton, it is not actually part of Sutton.

Sutton is a London Borough, but also the address code when you post mail is Sutton, Surrey. Weird eh? It is part of Surrey yet is also part of London. Abit like Bromley, classified as Kent yet is a London Borough.

South Sutton is a nice place to live, but there are too many flats and the end of Brighton Road, just before Belmont, is a large estate that is not too pleasant.

The rest of Sutton has improved dramatically between 2000 to now. Whilst the high street does have quite a lot of chavs and hoodies, nothing ghappens there as it is fully covered by CCTV. And unlike Croydon, you feel safe on the streets including the backstreets, which are well lit up. There are also loads of nice parks, Sutton has some of the best schools in the country, and is only a stones throw away from places like Wimbledon, Epsom Downs etc. Train links are very good with Victoria reachable in 25 minutes, London Bridge in 35 minutes, and many other places like Horsham, St Albans, Guildford etc. can be reached directly from Sutton.

The bus services are also very good, with direct buses to Wimbledon, Epsom, Kingston, Croydon etc. And you can still get a decent sized semi-detached house in a nice street for less than £300k, more than I can say for most of London

Hi JB,

The St.Helier estate DOES come under Sutton; just google it and you will see indeed it does.

Sutton was built as an overspill for the residents of the decaying inner city areas of London; but it isn't actually in London as such - it's in the London Borough of Sutton, Surrey. So, it has a connection to London - but is not actually in London if that makes sense?

Hi Isabella,

The St Helier Estate is not part of Sutton, it is part of Morden (Merton) and Carshalton, which is completely separate to Sutton. Trust me, I should know, I have lived here all my life!

Sutton was actually built in the 18th century when the turnpike road was built between London and Brighton. Then in the 1850s to the 1930s it had substantal building after the railways connected Sutton to Central London.

Sutton is in London as it is called 'The London Borough of Sutton' and if you look at any Map, comes under Greater London. Therefore it is part of London, but also comes under Surrey, as it is included in the Surrey address book.

I would much rather be part of Surrey than Sutton, more posh and higher house prices than Greater London

Yes, Sutton is in London - the Surrey address is just a hangover from the pre-GLC days when Sutton (as well as Kingston, Richmond, Croydon etc) were actually in Surrey itself.

Sutton is the same as anywhere else - there are good and bad parts of it. On AVERAGE, Sutton is probably a worse area than more expensive surrounding places like Wimbledon, Richmond or Kingston, but I would rather live in a nice part of Sutton than a poor part of any of those areas.

It seems to be an argument that we get a lot on these forums - one place is better/nicer than another. In reality, even the best stockbroker belt towns (Esher, Sevenoaks, Weybridge etc) have council estates and poor roads as does Kensington & Chelsea. At the same time, I bet there are some really nice roads in Hull.

I hear what you say FTB1.

I must admit I do like Kingston, Richmond and Wimbledon more than Sutton, but prices are simply a joke, and are often double that of the prices in Sutton for similar properties.

In the long term, I am planning either to stay in a nice part of Sutton, or move out to say Epsom Downs, Banstead etc. I would never move further into London, prices are too high and it is a bit of a concrete jungle, and too much traffic etc.

What I would say about Sutton is that there are not many Council estates anymore, and also, when compared to places like Wimbledon, it has some of the best value properties in London, given the good transport links, good schools, nice green clean areas and parks, good shopping area and lower than national average crime rate.

Sutton is also next to some of the best places to live in the UK, such as Coulsdon, Reigate, Epsom, Banstead etc. And as long as you don't go past the Carshalton border into Croydon/Mitcham territory, you should be fine