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We slashed home from £750,000 to £695,000 in four months
Sri Carmichael06.01.09
THE Gray family have reduced the asking price of their house near Clapham Common to a level it would have fetched at the end of 2006 after only one "comedy offer" was made on it in four months.
Anna Gray, 39, and her husband Scott, 34, are selling the four-bedroom Victorian property in Wakehurst Road for £695,000, down from the original asking price in September of £750,000. They bought it in April 2004 for £550,000.
The couple, who have two young children, live in Spain but want to sell their London property to fund a move back to Britain to live in the countryside near Bath.
Mrs Gray said: "We assumed we'd be able to sell easily. While we've been out in Spain the past four years friends on our street have been selling similar properties for nearly a million. You just get used to houses making money. It wasn't a business or a plan, it's just how it's been.
"We're not depressed our home has lost value because we know we'll be able to buy something in the country cheaper than we would have done a year ago. It evens out, we're realistic that the market as a whole is going down."
The Gray's house is on sale with www.douglasandgordon.com
Reader views (20)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
IF they get their current asking price, I wonder if they`ll be willing to offer full asking price on their next property ?
"You just get used to houses making money."
Well, it`s time to get used to houses losing money. Sorry about that, but it`s what is required.
- Andrew, Birmungham,UK
As others have pointed out, recent figures by both Nationwide and Halifax suggest average prices are back to where they were in August 2004, but Anna and Scott are still expecting their property to fetch the price it was worth* in December 2006? They might want to think about dropping the price a bit more fairly quickly or soon it's going to be worth less than they paid for initially in April 2004!
*Anything is only 'worth' what somebody is willing to pay for it, not what the vendor thinks it should be!
- Andy, Bath
Dear Evening Standard - why did you publish this? Why did you not tell them that they are asking far too much for their house and in the current climate a 2004 valuation would be good going. And why didn't you publish the comedy offer as I bet it was much closer to the houses value than the asking price!
- Eve, London
They've cut the house price by 7% when both Halifax and Nationwide are saying prices have dropped 15%+ this last year and they wonder why it's not sold?
If some commentators are to be believed then we're at 2004 prices already and so they should be looking at that £550k they bought it for as a realistic selling price now.
- Terry, London
why would you expect them to know what its worth when they sell it, they didnt know what it was worth when they bought it... still overpriced, wont sell
- Mike, London
Everyone in life should be able to afford a house but because of these greedy property owners it makes to harder for the average joe bloggs to afford a home. all the tax perks that you can get from rent properties makes these greedy people live like a life on the monopoly board. i say one for every man anything else tax them at a higher rate
- David, Croydon
a 700k house in London and living in Spain. Sounds like a tough life for them. My heart bleeds.
- Patrick, Singapore
Why do the owners think they are entitled to a £140k profit when we are entering what some analysts consider to be an economic downturn as great as the Great Depression, and property is at an all time peak?
- Daniel, London
Drop the asking price to £650K and take an offer of say £625 then sit on the profit until the market bottoms out - 2010 probably. Rent in Bath for a few years and then buy a house at your leisure. Don't fall into the trap of chasing the market down - always one step behind the going rate.
- Keith, Surrey
Wow. "Slashed" a whole 55k. Nationwide today reports that house prices have already fallen almost 20%, and the consensus is that there is a similar fall still to come. Prices now are at about the 2004 level, so there's another 145k to come off before this house is sellable. Leave it a year and it'll be 300k.
Expecting to trouser 200k just for owning a house 4 years is greed. If you weren't so greedy you'd have set a sensible asking price, sold it 3 months ago and still made a decent profit. Too late now.
I bet you wish you'd taken that comedy offer now - it's the best one you're going to get
- Marcus, London, UK
houses are for living in, not for living off
- Nu, london uk
"we're realistic that the market as a whole is going down." - but not realistic enough to drop the price more than 7% in a market where prices have dropped by 15%. The asking price is still £140,000 higher than they paid for it (a 25% profit in 4 years!)
- Bobby Gillespie, SE1, London
It seems that the owners of the house just want to sit back and wait for a huge capital appreciation. Why? The market is weak and getting weaker by the day. If they want to sell perhaps they should think about what potential buyers can actually afford and not continue to pick numbers from the sky.
- Catherine, London
They will be lucky to get back what they paid for it. It is a pokey Victorian terrace in an albeit reasonable area.
- Bruce, London
you will be lucky to get what you originaly paid for it house prices have a long way to fall yet clapham is heavily congested with traffic. no way would i pay 600 000 plus to live there. just 2 greedy people who want way over the top for there house
- C May, biggin hillwho need to face reality
Comedy offer or comedy asking price? If only one person makes an offer then that is value of the house. People need to realise that buyers are not going to hand over profit to sellers when they know it's a buyer's market. Perhaps the Grays should cut the price to the level they bought it at and then it may sell. Or maybe not.
- St, London
So they bought their house for £550k four years ago and expect it to have risen 26% (or 36% on original asking price) in 4.5 years? They will be lucky to get back what they paid for it in this market. People need to get real.
- Toby, London
It's not the asking price that matters, rather the actual selling price and I get the impression that a lot of people are holding out for prices they won't get.
In summer 2007 I was hoping to see around £350K for my London home once the necessary work was done. With not much more to do, my local friendly agent looked at it in Easter 2008 and suggested that the asking price should be £320K. August it went on the market at £300K, no response. After a month, with emigration imminent, I cut the price to £260K (looking for £250K, stamp duty threshold) and started to get viewings, but ended up accepting £233K. Fortunately the shift in the exchange rate between the pound and Australian dollar worked in my favour, so it wasn't quite as painful as these numbers suggest. And sadly my local friendly agent has since closed down.
- Tonyb, Melbourne, Australia
They 'slashed'6% of their asking price (from peak or market) when prices around Clapham Common has dropped 20%. That "comedy offer" was probably a fair market value, although they don't reveal it.
By the end of 2009, that 2004 valuation will look good and thats judging by the most optimistic estimates of future prices.
- Peter, London
The following is written without pleasure but as a reality check. If the family initially offered their house at 750000 and reduced it to 695000 that's only a drop of 7.3%. If they get 695000 they will have made 26.3% from what they paid in 2004. The reality is that prices may drop 20% from 2004. This is 110000. Leaving a property worth 440000. 440000 divided by 3.5 times earnings equals 125714 annual salary. My point is that I believe it is only when property prices return to levels when people can afford a mortgage on them that we will see a sustainable housing market. I feel sorry for this family in some ways but is it justifiable to expect a return of 26.3% in 4 years. If so heaven help people trying to get on the property ladder.
- Michael, Switzerland
