This is not intended as a boast. We've just sold our house after it being on the market for under a month; central Scotland (Strathaven). House is definitely nothing special; 3 bed end-terrace about 17 years old, some garden space, a conservatory. I was very surprised by how quickly it sold, and I made some observations of the buyers and potential buyers;
Couple #1 were young professionals (vets) who couldn't afford it, and were accompanied by the chaps parents. They were pretty frank about it; the older pair were assisting the younger with the buy, and when the young couple outgrew it, the older ones were going to move in.
Couple #2 were older and downsizing from a pretty large 4 bed. They've bought it.
Pretty different experience from the last time- no "new money" whatsoever coming through, no younger people getting onto the ladder, or if they were they were needing assistance from parents. And that's after a depression in prices.
This is only based on a fairly small representative sample of course, but its borne out some more from talking to estate agents. It looks like properties are selling, but only if the buyers are either mortgage-free or are stumping up to the LTV figures the lenders are after, 60 and 70%. Everything that seems to be selling quickly also seems to go within a couple of months and for (what looks to me) like 2004/5 prices.
Contrast that with my neighbor down the road; he's got the same house as me and wants/needs an extra 30k. Its still for sale after 2 years. Poor sod.
Fixer-uppers might be different, and Aberdeen sure sounds different- I'm surprised a lender is valuing the property with its potential price rather than actual. Might just be the valuation being out- if its a certain well-known estate agent then their figures seem to be about 20% off where the actual market is right now.
