End of stamp duty holiday….

He has stopped even looking at the moment as he was putting offers in and the estate agents were not even getting back to him and he got very disheartened by the whole thing

Things have certainly become a lot slower here in Bedfordshire than they were in March/April time. There aren't so many properties coming on to the market as there were earlier in the year. Some properties are still being snapped up really quickly though.

I am living in timber framed house , it’s so warm and comfortable . My heating bills are extremely low

Not immediately because there will now be a shortage of properties on the market, that will keep prices up.

One of the problems for your son is that many purchases in the South West are now second home city dwellers who want a bolt hole. And some who have decided to make a home in the county and stay in the city for the week.

Covid has changed peoples mentality about where they want to live. It will shift back but maybe not for a couple of years or more. Then people will start offloading these properties for the convenience and buzz of a big city.

I know your son was looking at bungalows. He might find it easier to buy in a city. But you’re a bit short of cities down there.?

i dont think it will make any difference in the area your son is looking for the reasons peasblossom gives

properties there are very sought after and will continue to increase in value and get snapped up overnight

bungalows are usually more expensive than houses due to the number of retirees buying there

just pick any location in devon cornwall norfolk on rightmove and you will see the STC banner comes on within a few days and many properties are exceeding the asking price

Peasblossom

Not immediately because there will now be a shortage of properties on the market, that will keep prices up.

One of the problems for your son is that many purchases in the South West are now second home city dwellers who want a bolt hole. And some who have decided to make a home in the county and stay in the city for the week.

Covid has changed peoples mentality about where they want to live. It will shift back but maybe not for a couple of years or more. Then people will start offloading these properties for the convenience and buzz of a big city.

I know your son was looking at bungalows. He might find it easier to buy in a city. But you’re a bit short of cities down there.?

Thank you so much peasblossom. I’m pretty sure he would not even consider a city but think he might be prepared to wait a couple of years because at the moment it is just so frustrating. My son works very hard as a bricklayer and has decided to buy himself a new car, well not new but newer, he said he wants something as he works so hard and has been disappointed by the housebuying process I quite agree with him,maybe put this all on the back burner for a couple of years…. I lived in a small village when I was a child near Woolacombe and I went back a couple of years ago and spoke to a local handyman who was fixing up one of the houses and he told me that 84% of that little village is now second homes, I could’ve wept As when I was a child it was a fully thriving community but there that’s the way the world is now, sad, for me anyway…

My son is not specifically looking for a bungalow it’s just that the one he found would’ve been perfect but for the bloody ransom strip. He will consider any property even quite rundown that he will be able to do up himself as long is it has a little bit of land for his three vehicles.. Family car, Land Rover and trailer….

It's not just Devon and Cornwall, I live in the Cotswolds and the situation is the same here. Rocketing house prices, houses going to 'London buyers', with cash in their pockets before even coming on the open market. Our little market town, once easy to park in, is now permanently full of soft top Mercedes, brand new Range Rovers, even a Rolls Royce! It's worse at the weekends!
I hope things will settle down but I wouldn't bet on it. The latest I saw in the news was an expectation of a September surge but the demand for bigger houses falling away. It's a tragedy for the young and those on low incomes but who's going to do anything about it? The UK is now full of people fixated on getting rich through property and no government or political party will want to lose votes by changing it. Sad.

The UK is now full of people fixated on getting rich through property

i am not sure that is true these days
people are fixated on a better quality of life away from london
the money they can make from the property itself is not necessarily their first priority or main motive

but of course most buyers have well over a million from the sale of their property

The UK is now full of people fixated on getting rich through property
I don't think it's coincidence that for instance, friends of my daughter are able to buy a house because the grandparents' house was put in trust when they died so that their grandchildren could buy a property.

If it wasn't worth doing, the money would go elsewhere than into property but more importantly, the better quality of life away from London is being wrecked by 000s of incomers, pressure on resources, schools, GPs, dogs everywhere, litter, traffic! Not least by manipulating the market through local estate agents and paying absurd prices because they can.

Strange that there's a better quality of life on the Yorkshire Moors or in Bridlington or even Ramsgate but no, let's head for the West Country. Friends in Devon tell me of the serious problems with second homers, airbnb, landlords evicting tenants because holiday rentals offer better income. It is crazy and unacceptable.

Even in the Cotswolds, a million won't get you far these days!!