Same in the Netherlands. People couldn't spend their savings on an expensive holiday, interest is super low, demand is super high, supply is very low.
So now when a house is presented online, sometimes within a day it says: Please don't respond anymore, our firm can't handle the amount of emails and phone calls. We invited 30 people/couples and then will assess.
Sometimes you can engage in the bidding war without reviewing the property, of course the chance of getting it is highest if you forego any rights you may have to step away from the deal should you run into financing issues. This presents a high risk because couples opt for loaning the maximum amount they can by both working full time. 10 years ago all my friends said: "we're sticking to a property we can afford on 1 salary, for safety and if we run into trouble."
It's already annoying if you have a house to sell for a ridiculous price but imagine what it's like when you are looking for your first property. Hopeless.
I'm glad I live in an acceptable house, but if we were in the market of 10 years ago (when realtors would only negotiate with one person/couple at a time) I would have moved on by now, to something more rural, bigger and with more land.
I feel stuck, it's crazy how different the situation is from 10 years ago.
I think we just needs start building, a lot, and fast. In stead we seem to be stuck on the amount of fixed nitrogen we produces, putting a break on everything (including construction) [0].
I had to sell my house in the Netherlands when I moved back to my home country in Q3 last year.
I was apprehensive if it'd sell fast enough or not because it was super challenging to arrange for the monthly mortgage. Even the broker didn't seem all that positive about selling it in the coming months because apparently the demand wasn't too great due to corona. She suggested we price it such a way that I don't lose money.
But. The very first person who viewed the house bid for it, 5% over the quoted price, signed the purchase agreement in like two weeks. I was over the moon, I even made a profit when all I was looking for was to just wrap up things at Netherlands.
It was a clear sign that housing demand was red hot in Amsterdam. The prices were already increasing since ~2015 due to a bunch of factors like Brexit and what not but then this pandemic pushed it to a whole new level. Craziness.
Yeah, I see people getting bids 15% over what they put the house up for. And it's considered normal to get more than what you "demand", it's more a "let's start the bidding at" price nowadays.
Even in rural area's prices the velocity of the market is nuts. Friend of mine sold a house for 1.3 million euro in 1 week... Insanity. A few years pre 2008 it was normal for houses in that price range to be on the market for at least months
> It's already annoying if you have a house to sell for a ridiculous price but imagine you are looking for your first property. Hopeless.
Yeah, we had to "strong arm" our landlord into selling to us be essentially breaking our lease and being huge pains in the asses. That is, we refused to allow open houses and showings in June/July of last year. Basically, it was "sell to us or good luck selling some crappy tenants."
So now when a house is presented online, sometimes within a day it says: Please don't respond anymore, our firm can't handle the amount of emails and phone calls. We invited 30 people/couples and then will assess.
Sometimes you can engage in the bidding war without reviewing the property, of course the chance of getting it is highest if you forego any rights you may have to step away from the deal should you run into financing issues. This presents a high risk because couples opt for loaning the maximum amount they can by both working full time. 10 years ago all my friends said: "we're sticking to a property we can afford on 1 salary, for safety and if we run into trouble."
It's already annoying if you have a house to sell for a ridiculous price but imagine what it's like when you are looking for your first property. Hopeless.
I'm glad I live in an acceptable house, but if we were in the market of 10 years ago (when realtors would only negotiate with one person/couple at a time) I would have moved on by now, to something more rural, bigger and with more land.
I feel stuck, it's crazy how different the situation is from 10 years ago.
I think we just needs start building, a lot, and fast. In stead we seem to be stuck on the amount of fixed nitrogen we produces, putting a break on everything (including construction) [0].
[0] https://www.politico.eu/article/netherlands-nitrogen-headach...