Anyone struggling to sell a flat?

[Tblock1800]

I know it's across the board at the moment, but is anyone else really struggling to sell their flat? We got a modern 2 bedroom apartment in surrey in a good location and have even put our price down, but we are receiving nothing at the moment. We did have viewers in previously and 1 person even close to offering, then pulling out at the last minute. It's been literally baron for months with no 1 viewer. I get the market is volatile at the moment, but it's ridiculous the flat market in particular which are extremely difficult to sell. Anyone selling a flat/apartment experiencing the same issues?

I think a lot of people are OP but some flats are selling. Could you post a link?

Flats are still selling but have slumped a lot in most cases. If not one viewer for months you are no where near the current value. What you need to do is have an honest conversation with your agent and ask them " what price do I need to reduce to to attract multiple interested parties ? " That will give you an idea of the flats real value in the current market. If you want to move its worth doing that now because the prices are likley to get lower later in the year when rates increase again.

We were on the market for 9months before we got an offer… we reduced after 5…! Still not over the line yet, but hopeful 🤞🏻.

the market is saturated with flats after the landlord reforms!

I think you've had several threads about struggling to sell your flat for a couple of years and were advised to reduce the price more but you weren't keen to do this.
Yes, many people seem to be struggling to sell their flats. There have been lots of threads on here. Unfortunately, lots of people are trying to sell their flats and there are far less buyers wanting them. A lot of people have decided to skip the flat stage, fees have risen, there have been cladding concerns for some, etc.
Unfortunately, if you want to actually sell and move on, you will need to reduce it to a level where someone will buy it.

Agree with dropping price. We had a huge struggle to sell and dropped gradually in stages in total by 65k and completed last Feb. Best thing we ever did.

No advice but good luck.

I've been looking at flats for about 2 years in Shropshire.
It's some of the monthly fees, lease hold and maintenance that have put me off. Some flats are as high as £2300 annually so at the moment I'm holding off until I can afford a house.

Exactly. You won't be the only one.
As @BingAndFlop400 said above, sometimes dropping the price and being able to move on is the best thing to do if you can afford to do this.

i have seen plenty of flats in my price range - up to £50000 but honestly some of the service charges are beyond eye watering. I’m sure it’s the service charge and the unknown future charges that are putting people off buying flats.
This has a service charge of over £10,000 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/173210987#/?channel=RES_BUY
Interesting that a certain politician was in trouble regarding the purchase of one of the flats here.

We did put the price down. There is only so much you can put down before you’re practically giving the property away. Issue is, we have our own budget for on-going purchase, so whilst putting it down in price is ok, we can’t give the property away for nothing because we won’t have the budget for the next purchase. Some people are lucky and have more equity so can afford to lower the price considerably. We are slightly tighter as our equity is ok, but not to the amount where we can justify putting the price down to a stupid level. Is what it is. We live in a nice area, live right opposite little boys school and the complex we live in is beautiful, but obviously with 2 kids now we want to upsize to a 3 bedroom house. At the same time, we got to be realistic in the sense putting the property down by a silly amount means difficulty in purchasing. As time goes on, our equity is getting bigger as mortgage is paying off so might take off the market for a bit.

Had a sell mine for less than I paid for it. That was fun. Not what I’d expected.

Honestly, I'd stay, let the kids share a bedroom and wait it out.
My DS has decided to do this - ideally he'd like to move closer to work but figures it's better to stay put and live in his nice flat, than sell it and lose lots of money, even if that means putting up with some inconvenience.

I think service charges need serious capping - these absolutely take the piss in some cases.

It doesn't sound like you can really afford to move at the moment OP. What you "need" to move is not of any interest to a buyer - only the value that they put on it and are prepared to pay is relevant.
I think your right to take it off for a while and to focus on paying down the mortgage. Once you have a larger equity share you will be able to price your flat to sell.

Obviously you wouldn't be giving your flat away, just accepting that the market will pay less than you want. I take your point that you have a limited amount of equity and would therefore struggle to afford an onward purchase if you lowered the asking price to market value. In that case, you can't afford to move, unfortunately. It may be the case that prices of houses will fall more than flats or it may be the case that you get stuck in your flat long term. No one knows what will happen for sure.

I want to buy a flat but honestly as a single person with an average income I don’t think I can afford it.. it’s not the mortgage it’s the maintenance fees and ground rent on top of that.. plus bills on top of that.. it costs loads and actually would be cheaper to get a terrace house (I live up north so may be different in Surrey). I love the idea of a flat but the extra charges are too much on top of a mortgage.

One of my DC has been looking for a 2 bedroom flat in Surrey. A year so far of stalking on Rightmove and watching prices and researching.
They have concluded that it is better and possibly cheaper to rent.
Buying a flat as first property means more stamp duty when they want to upgrade to a house.Worries about leases. Service charges with uncertain increases. Risk of shitty neighbours. Maintenance. Value dropping.
That’s one example of why buyers aren’t out there.

Can you reframe it in your mind as something other than a step on the ladder? As if you’re starting again. What would you have paid to rent somewhere in the time you’ve lived there? If you have to reduce the price a lot to sell it have you actually lost money if you think about it like that?

You haven’t said what the service charge is or how long is left on the lease. I wouldn’t buy a flat due to the unpredictable nature of service charges. There’s been a lot in the press about this issue.

A well done for swallowing the reality and getting on with your life though 👏

From op's previous thread with the listing it is a shared ownership flat, service charge of £3528 and 79 years left on the lease.

It's unfortunate that your flat has turned out to be worth less than you thought OP but you can't possibly expect the purchaser to pay more just because you want to move somewhere more expensive.

That Hove flat is lovely but the service charges are ridiculous. I can't see myself buying a flat and still paying the equivalent of a significant chunk of rent money in service charges (that could increase any time) along with a mortgage and I'm sure a lot of people are the same.

Oh crikey, now I'm more sympathetic. Giving it away, not literally but with some kind of loss, might actually be what ends up being necessary 😞

Oh! I hadn't realised that it was the same Op.

We sold a flat last year to move to a house. We had to drop the price by £40k (20% of asking price) which hurt at the time, but now the move has happened amd a year passed I barely even think about what we reduced by. Only when posts like this come up does it cross my mind. The move was so worth it.

I see, that will explain why it isn’t selling then. Almost £300 a month in service charges on top of a mortgage. And no one will touch a 79 year lease.