Housing market drop - has Sydenham been affected?

[user100]

I know I'm a sad so-and-so for bringing up the topic, but I am wondering if property prices in Sydenham have been affected by the general malaise in the property market?

I am thinking of trading up, in which case a drop in prices would be welcome to me - although I know some won't share that viewpoint.

It seems to me that Syd prices have a kind of upward momentum due to the scheduled ELL extension opening in 2010, which seems to be bringing a hint of yuppification, (or should that be a soupcon of gentrification?) but I assume that doesn't make them completely immune to any levelling off or drop in the wider market. Or maybe they are doing even worse than elsewhere for all I know.

Just don't want to pay over the odds on a house by listening to over-optimistic estate agents.

Not sure if prices are generally currently higher / lower / same as e.g April 2007.

Anyone got any views / stories / knowledge on this topic? Has it gone off the boil? Are properties sitting on the market for a long time? Have prices been cut? Maybe vendors are more open to negotiation? Or is it still going full steam ahead?

To be honest, on this thread I am really just interested in the state of Syd property prices, not the morality or otherwise of house prices / private property / the capitalist system in general

[Ronski]

Install Property Bee with Firefox & you can keep a close eye on changing prices
http://www.property-tools.co.uk/

[user100]

Good idea!

should have done it this time last year.....

[mysti77]

Install Property Bee with Firefox & you can keep a close eye on changing prices
http://www.property-tools.co.uk/

Can't figure out how to use the tool. I think I'm just daft

[Ronski]

you have to be using the firefox web browser, download for free & install...
http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/products/firefox/

Then go to the property tools link I posted & it should install fine if you follow the instructions. All it really does is log the prices & details on say rightmove.co.uk, so when you look again in a week it will tell you if anything has changed!

This way you can see if people knock the prices down while they are on sale rather than http://propertysnake.co.uk/ which I *think* does after the sale has gone through.

Hope that makes sense?

[roundasapound]

I'd love to be able to buy a house on my road but it's just too expensive. I fear I will have to rent forever, and by the time I'm able to afford a mortgage the bank will say sorry you're too old, you'll be retired before the 25 year mortgage term is over!

Where I live estate agents and others are always posting leaflets through the door asking if people want to sell, that there are prospective buyers looking for property on the surrounding streets.

For sale signs don't stay up for long around here, within a fortnight for sale becomes sold.

[poppy]

I don't know if you know the property snake website which tracks house prices, but reductions in houses for sale seem to average about 6% at the moment in SE26, which is an interesting contrast with SE22 where they are dropping prices from 15-25% on average, even Forest Hill seems to be struggling more...
http://propertysnake.co.uk/site/postcode/se26/4

[roundasapound]

Thanks

I'll check it out.

Although on a salary of £26k and a single parent, still don't think I'd qualify to jump on the property ladder just yet.

[leenewham]

Property snake records properties that have been reduced in price to get a sale. THisis fine except one major factor in this area is that a lot of properties have been overvalued. Very often vendors have increased the price of a property against the advice of the estate agents.

Estate agents also give higher valuations to get business.

This isn't a true reflection of the state of the housing market, just a reflections of ignorance, greed and stupidity.

There are plenty of websites that show what places actually sell for which is the only true reflection of house prices.

What is happening at the moment is that prices are going back to what they were 1 year ago. The fat is being trimmed. The market become more uniform. First time buyers are struggling because it's more difficult to get a mortgage so there are less buyers, but there are less people selling because of the fear of the state of the market.

IF you own a home, if the market goes down what you buy will go down as well as what you sell. You can beat trends by moving to up and coming areas. Sydenham is one of these.

I live in Fairlawn park. When I started looking a year ago houses there were going for 300,000. Recently two houses there sold for in excess of 350,000.

[poppy]

Lee, I know this sounds pretty obvious, but if Sydenham is an up and coming area then for that to be true, house prices have to be rising too.

I know £50,000 is a huge jump but a friend of mine sold a house in Honor Oak Park at the end of last year, another 'up and coming area' for £200,000 more than they paid for it it, after only three years! (They had spent about £40,000 on it though).

If people are finding the £500,000 plus price tag for a three-bed house in ED and elsewhere too much of a stretch for them then a similar house for £350,000 - £400,000 here is going to seem like very good value.

[leenewham]

I agree, Sydenham is incredible value, that's one reason why I moved here.

[GillM]

Lee I just noticed on Rightmove that a house in Fairlawn (3 bed) is up for sale at £485,000! Seem's like you made the right move.

[leenewham]

£485,000?

That's silly money. There is no way they will get that. I bet the estate agents is someone like Foxtons.

[GillM]

Ha Ha you are correct!!! Foxton's of Dulwich. Marketing it as Upper Sydenham!

[admin]

Well Sydenham certainly appears to be bucking the trend in housing price declines. This report here shows that Sarf London is almost booming with Sydenham prices INCREASING 2.2% in the last three month period:
http://tinyurl.com/4z8aee

Admin