Estate Agent Today

Channel Sponsor

We have 56 guests online

Today's Headlines:

House prices fall or rise (take your pick)
4 comments
House prices went up slightly – by 0.4% – in July, the Land Registry has reported. It

Knight Frank stay quiet after conman is jailed
9 comments
A tenant who faked his identity when renting through Knight Frank has been jailed for three

Rich overseas buyers keep prime London market aloft
0 comments
Chinese buyers are expected to replace Russian investors as major players in the prime central London

Moving occasion: today's the day!
0 comments
The most popular moving date is today, September 1, the Post Office has revealed. The two next

Prospective first-time buyers sink to new low
0 comments
The proportion of buyers expecting to buy for the first time in the next 12 months

Housing market 'edging towards double dip' claim
2 comments
Net lending plummeted in July to the second lowest monthly figure since records began in 1993,

Henry Pryor Blog
0 comments
Welcome to a new monthly blog by Henry Pryor, estate agent turned entrepreneur, inventor and expert

Rightmove profits climb 39% as more agents sign up
14 comments
A rise in the number of agents and an overall willingness to pay more to Rightmove

Portal creates new 'check out your competition' stats
1 comments
Property portal Home has created some new statistic pages on its site which we reckon will

Six in ten mortgages are now for house purchase
2 comments
The proportion of mortgages being taken out for purchases, as opposed to remortgages, is at its

Portals Today

Home-owners believe prices will rise

Wednesday 6th January 2010

Most (81%) home-owners believe UK house prices will rise over the next six months. They believe prices will rise generally by 5.4%, with the value of their own home rising 5.7%.

But three-quarters of buyers say there is no improvement in mortgage availability.

Of the 10,700 people who took part in the online survey by Zoopla, almost all (9,938) were home-owners.

Zoopla claimed yesterday that it is now the second most visited property portal, one place behind Rightmove.

Send to a Friend Today's other headlines

View Comments 10 comments

Report Abuse

Posted By wooden top on Thursday 14th January 2010 15:00:27

Get Profile

Oh dear more unrealistic expectations. Who keeps feeding this nonsense. Ask a buyer if prices will rise = "No". Ask the same person if selling = "Yes". Now ask if they can afford the "Yes" and the answer is "NO".
Not until affordability starts to exceed markey value will prices rise.... who's had 5% pay rise bankers excluded)?

Reply to this comment

Posted By PeeBee on Thursday 7th January 2010 13:26:27

Get Profile

AceOfSpades - Ah, now we are getting somewhere! You are correct in your theory that JP may think it is wise to wait - and that is where WE step in with the responses! Buyers - buy now before prices rise. Sellers - sell now as people will want to buy your properety at a cheaoper rate - and buy now before prices rise on your next home, thereby saving you money in the long-run. Simples!

Reply to this comment

Posted By AceOfSpades on Thursday 7th January 2010 10:21:17

Get Profile

PeeBee, To us, the article is a load of rubbish. But I do agree that when read by Joe Public you would have a different reaction. You are right. The press are far too good at headlining the doom and gloom (and multiplying it by 100) to get some extra sales that day, but having a long term damaging effect on the public opinion causing a chain reaction. We do need more positive news! Promoting this stat to your target audience is a good move. However, might it put people off selling with you for at least another 6 months, in the hope that their price does increase?

Reply to this comment

Posted By PeeBee on Wednesday 6th January 2010 23:09:01

Get Profile

AceOfSpades - how right you are. HOWEVER... what Joe Public know of the property market, they mainly glean from the press. You, I, and many more have bemoaned on this site for months about negative press and the devastating effect it has on the home selling profession. My point is that maybe - just maybe - positive press like this will get some of the buyers and sellers off the fence and do some deals. When sales pick up, those that we used to call 'lenders' will be more confident to lend again. I will be quoting the headline in every bit of marketing material in my arsenal. What's the worst that could happen...?

Reply to this comment

Posted By PeeBee on Wednesday 6th January 2010 22:59:20

Get Profile

Harrison - nope - Joe Public don't hope - they BELIEVE. That's what the article says. You aren't doubting the Press, are you...?

Reply to this comment

Posted By AceOfSpades on Wednesday 6th January 2010 17:34:37

Get Profile

Peebee, "As it is they who ultimately control the market, should we not take notice?" Of the public who took part, how many have a thorough knowledge of the current state of the propterty market? A miniscule number. Like the others have said, its based upon wishful thinking really, which has been grouped as a statistic based on a (largely) un-informed opinion. If Zoopla had asked what home owners want from their estate agent when selling with them, that is something they typically have a (better) understanding of and something we can physically work with. A useful question, directed at the right audience. This article, in all fairness, is just a page filler. The question isn't necessarily a bad one, its just the wrong people have been asked. It's like askng estate agents what is going to happen with the price of petrol this year. You buy it regularly, but estate agents aren't the key audience to ask this to, especially if the question is going to be published as an attempted statistic to the top dogs at BP.

Reply to this comment

Posted By Harrison on Wednesday 6th January 2010 15:16:24

Get Profile

PeeBee, I don't think you should take notice. A survey of this kind is really only telling you "Home-owners HOPE prices will rise". Of course they do, but if the response is higher asking prices then (in most regions) the market will likely stagnate further. Incidentally, the survey is actually just PR for Zoopla, so the reason for it being published isn't anything to do with what home-owners believe (unless they believe in PR!)

Reply to this comment

Posted By PeeBee on Wednesday 6th January 2010 11:58:44

Get Profile

Mark - whilst I completely agree with the majority of what you say, firstly, I can call on over 750 years of combined experience in the property market including my own 30+, and of these, none can accurately predict the housing market at this point. The market is driven by far too many forces to be able to do so - as is evident by the myriad of 'expert predictions' all announcing something different (but, hey, if it gets yer name in the press, why not...). Of course, the one factor that no-one has any control over is public opinion - and if the horse don't want to drink, then it don't matter how big the trough is that you finally lead it to, it won't! On another point, EAT, by reporting this to us (and don't forget it has come from another source and they are simply posting it for our info...) are giving us some insight into how those darned 'general public' are thinking at the present. As it is they who ultimately control the market, should we not take notice?

Reply to this comment

Posted By Mark on Wednesday 6th January 2010 10:17:03

Get Profile

Well, as all us agents know, members of the public who move house about 4 times in their adult life know much more about the housing market than we who deal with with that many in just one week.......sigh! why is it that so many media outlets take the opinion of the man in the street and call it news? it's not! it's more often than not either wishful thinking or a prohpet of doom. Now these home-owners had access to, and actually taken the time to read, all the available data regarding the economy, current market trends, etc. etc., they would have either a) been totally bored and stopped reading after 5 mins, b) been totally confused, or c) read it and simply regujitated the parts they understood. It takes years to know enough about the Housing Market to make worthwhile prediction about the housing market, so what is the point in an article like this? Is EAT just trying to illustrate how little time the public spend thinking before speaking?

Reply to this comment

Posted By PeeBee on Wednesday 6th January 2010 09:24:51

Get Profile

Great news. Unfortunately, only when BUYERS and LENDERS believe this also, will we see any major improvement in the market!

Reply to this comment

Post Comments

Please login to post comments:

Post Comments without login

DISCLAIMER: The views contained in these user comments are not endorsed by Estate Agent Today (nor its associates and advertisers) in any way and are provided by users who wish to publish their independent opinions on our news. Whilst every effort is made to moderate these comments, due to the instant nature of the posting not all offensive material can be removed instantly. Please help us keep the comments areas tidy by reporting details of any infringements to team@estateagenttoday.co.uk

Most Read News Stories:

Three quarters of agents threaten to quit Rightmove
Friday 10th October 2008

EPCs on all properties for sale: VERY LATEST UPDATE
Monday 8th September 2008

HIPs abolition order is signed and ready
Monday 17th May 2010

NEWS FLASH – HIPs suspended
Thursday 20th May 2010

NEWS FLASH:HIPs face certain death
Wednesday 12th May 2010

RSS Feed

Share this article:

Digg it

Del.icio.us

Newsvine

Nowpublic

Facebook

Feedback:

If you have any questions or suggestions about this article or our news section, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Editorial Contact Details - Rosalind Renshaw | rosalind.renshaw@estateagenttoday.co.uk | 01252 843 566.