House prices have crept up just 0.2% this month – but only thanks to price rises in London where they went up 0.6%.
In the South-East and East Anglia, growth was just 0.1%, and everywhere else, house prices have been static or down on April.
The number of new buyers registering with agents has continued to slow, Hometrack reported this morning. Numbers of new applications increased 0.4%, compared with an increase of 2.1% in April and 4.4% in March. The volume of new listings also slowed, up 2.2%, compared with 4.8% last month.
The number of sales agreed wobbled, with the Hometrack indicator showing a rise of 3.8%, compared with a rise of 10.1% in April and 13.2% in March.
The sharply contrasting markets across the UK are shown by London, where demand has risen ahead of supply and prices have gone up 1.4% in the last three months. But in the North, over the same period, demand has risen by 9% but supply has grown by 28%.
Time on the market also varies enormously from area to area – from 5.1 weeks in London to 13.9 weeks in Wales. In six regions, time to sell is more than ten weeks.
Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: “The latest survey reveals a national market registering a slowdown in both demand and sales agreed, while supply coming on to the market continues to rise.”
He said the slowdown mirrored the pattern of previous years, with activity falling after Easter.
But he added: “Increased mortgage rates and mounting concerns over the impact of the eurozone on the UK’s economic growth and employment are likely to keep demand and prices in check as we move into summer.”
Comments
Mr RR - au contraire, Sir - there is MUCH for you to answer for and to, methinks... Var nigh three years of unanswered questions from a multitude of posters which you have either waved away or ignored without so much as a hint of MDT.
However your confirmation that you always leave a discussion and that others then have to answer for you is noted and accepted.
I guess, however, that this thread will be swept under the carpet soon with all the rest of the detritus you wish to cover over...
Not to worry - I will be there gnawing at your heels with the same awkward questions based upon your rantings whenever you show up.
Call it my gift to you! ;o)
All I can think of that's worth saying in answer to your earlier rant is, as ever, you are never 'knowingly' overwhelmed, or out-witted!!
I thought you answered all your own questions, having just thought of them: - as you generally do!
Oh my word.
He's done it. Finally done it. He's cracked - and I'm talking wide open like Humpty Dumpty's fragile shell!
He's only gorn and invented a whole blog entry around my 'prediction'. A prediction to which he now states
" We disagree profoundly. Instead we believe most house-owners wishing to move this year would say to estate agents..." then follows the whole MDT printed below.
Mr RR. WHO is the "WE" you refer to? The "WE" who would "like... to be part of the process and be included in the formative discussions for establishing a single industry-wide regulation and independent redress scheme for the whole sector."
ARE YOU REALLY SERIOUS??
"Realising Reality". You wouldn't realise it if it ran you down like a hedgehog.
Thanks for the mention in your blog, though. Nice to see SOME sense in there, in all of the MDT.
I find it strange that you are pointing readers to this story in your blog entry, though. Funny kind of SEO if you ask me. Hardly doing you any favours - all they will see is your MDT being dissected word by word.
Still - proves that it takes all sorts...
Seven days and counting...
anyone see Mr RR for dust?
Nope - the usual rapid retreat I guess!
I was going to let it die at the last post - as Mr RR usually does a runner whenever someone shows him up to be a complete twit and I think I managed that with....what was the ridiculous phrase he used?... oh, yes - "with panache and some dexterity".
But just to put it, and him, even more firmly to bed -
"I say "But PeeBee, you haven't actually asked these vendors directly, have you. Therefore, you don't really know what they would answer."
How did you guess? Maybe the fact that I said "Ask 1000 'clients' what their "best interests" are. My prediction would be that somewhere in the region of 995 of them will state something along the lines of..." A PREDICTION, Mr RR; purely my opinion. NOT, as you so often force down the throats of those who are sad enough to read, a claim to fact. I made that perfectly clear.
Here's a statement that may surprise you. I AM NOT AN "EXPERT". I have NEVER claimed to be one. And what is more, I NEVER WILL be one! What you have never bothered to take the time to learn whilst becoming the self-styled "expert" that you are, is that just when you think thay you "know", the rug is pulled out from beneath you by forces that you have no control over. The rules are there are no rules; the goalposts are only there to be moved just as you shoot.
The rest of your post, Sir, has no response. You just sit there, believing that ONE IN TEN MILLION potential vendors would respond to an Estate Agent in that manner, never mind 995 out of 1000.
Actually, one probably did. IN MY OPINION, that is why you are where you are now.
I don't knopw where to start.
I don't know if I even WANT to start...
Okay... here goes.
"Being dishonest ought to be made a crime, if it results in the perpetrator getting paid.
E.G.
Someone who copies without authority (e.g. Pretends to be an expert on house values when they have no real clue.),"
I take it you'll be turning yourself in to face the music, then?
PeeBee You said, in response to HC, this among other unsubstantiated remarks:
Ask 1000 'clients' what their "best interests" are. My prediction would be that somewhere in the region of 995 of them will state something along the lines of "the best price for my property".
I say "But PeeBee, you haven't actually asked these vendors directly, have you. Therefore, you don't really know what they would answer."
"They may say, for example, Actually, I want you to market my property to best advantage so that I can sell it at a realistic price within a timeframe of a maximum of three months.
I also want you to put me in touch with some equally efficient estate agents in the area in which I want to buy, who will show me a selection of properties that will: -
a) Meet my accommodation and location requirements.
b) Be in-line, price-wise with what you are obtaining for the house I am selling (in terms of what I am getting for my money), other than allowing for nationally established price differences in respect of my new location versus my old one."
"If you can do these things, I will be happy to accept your evidence-based and hence able to be vetted, Market Appraisal and to base my initial asking price on this."
"I will do this in an effort to achieve a swift and successful move (by using a chain of similar sales if necessary) and without finding that I have overpaid for the house I wish to buy, by comparison with the one I first wish to sell."
You will act for me as my agent in representing my best interests in all of these matters simultaneously - and NOT just try and get the best possible price on my sale property alone; no matter how long that could take!"
@PeeBee:
Counterfeiting: - Is a word that applies to too many agents because they are dishonest. Being dishonest ought to be made a crime, if it results in the perpetrator getting paid.
E.G.
Someone who copies without authority (e.g. Pretends to be an expert on house values when they have no real clue.),
imitates with intent to deceive (e.g. pretends the house they are selling for their client is in better condition than it really is),
forges something (e.g. Pretends to buyers that there is market interest when none exists, especially on the house they are selling),
feigns something (e.g. Conveniently ignores drawbacks relating to the location, the proximity of a loud roadway, or even a nuclear power station - no less!),
a sham (e.g. Not checking on a buyer's state of readiness or financial standing.),
false (e.g. Baldly exaggerates prices without the slightest hesitation),
an imitation (e.g. Pretending to be experts in al respects when in fact they can hardly even write good enough english to make the sales particulars look professional),
an imposer (e.g. Failing to understand the value of some aspects of the house they are pitching to sell, by not knowing enough about the quality of recent improvements, the level of demand for them nor the cost of anyone else have to get them done.).
Having answered your further questions with panache and some dexterity, I would like to comment on your answer to HC please, because that is a far more important subject for further discussion.
Happy Chappy:
In response to your question, allow me to give MY interpretation, which is how I worked as an Estate Agent.
It is the Agent's responsibility, job - call it what you want - to assess the marketing price to recommend to the seller.
The VENDOR, however, may - and often DO - have other ideas over the "value" of their property, however.
If the vendor wishes Agent 'A' to market the property, but does not want the property to be marketed at the Agent's recommendation figure, then the Agent must make a commercial decision as to whether it is worth their time and money to market what may well be an abortive.
But, thinking about it, HC - the same could be said about EVERY instruction, could it not?
Is there LESS chance of selling a property belonging to what someone previously referred to a 'kite-flying' ( I like that description, don't you...?) vendor than any other? You would think so - but that's where the magical mystical roundabout that is the housing market continually re-writes the rules!
And I know that the anonymous poster hasn't responded (bad form...), so allow me to repeat what I have said before in their absence. Under the Estate Agent's Act 1979, the Agent has a duty of care to their client. Indeed, the OFT website states
"The Estate Agents Act 1979 regulates your work as an estate agent. Its purpose is to make sure that you act in the best interests of your clients..."
Ask 1000 'clients' what their "best interests" are. My prediction would be that somewhere in the region of 995 of them will state something along the lines of "the best price for my property".
And so they should. It is a reasonable expectation, is it not?
Why else pay an Agent, unless they can get more money, quicker, for your property than you, or someone else, could?
Peebee - I have a question (not related to your joust with
RR)
In your opinion where does responsibility for the an asking price lie with the vendor or with the agent?
I notice i didn't get a reply on my question about a legal responisibility to "push the market " from the anon poster.
RR. You just can't stand it, can you, when someone proves you wrong?
Apart from your grossly incorrect belief that the dictionary definition words you quote "perfectly fairly" give an accurate description of the way that Estate Agents market properties (but of course you could always plead ignorance as your defence and no-one would argue that point...), you fail to recognise one simple, yet vital, fact - that counterfeiting is an ILLEGAL practice, and that the practice of marketing a property, at whatever price, by an Estate Agent is, the last time I checked (...about three seconds ago...), NOT illegal.
Let's look at the words you put forwad as relevant and "perfectly fair", shall we?:
"Copying". Copying WHAT?
"Imitates with intent to deceive" Imitates WHAT? Deceives HOW?
"Forges something". FORGES?? I'm DYING for you to validate THAT one...
"Feigns something, a sham, false, an imitation, an imposer." Come on then - where's your MDT justification for these?
I don't have to SUGGEST you made an incorrect choice of words, Sir - the evidence is there to be seen by all. In terms of my seeking to display superior knowledge - what good would it do me as I am, as you often point out, an anonymous entity - or even a "troll", as you seem to enjoy referring to - therefore I have nothing whatsoever to gain... other than maybe some bizarre self-satisfaction.
Whilst on the subject of incorrect choice of words...
"The form of counterfeiting that involves psyching up asking prices has been detected"
... is probably as incorrect and inappropriate as they come - so you do yourself no favours there, and shoot yourself straight in the foot where I only gnaw at your ankles!
"I wish that one day we could have a serious, meaningful and useful discussion..." So would I, Mr RR - but YOUR interpretation of that line and mine are diametrically opposite, therefore it could - and will - never happen.
Unless you can find someone who simply nods acceptance and panders to your MDT proposals, then you will not be enjoying such a discussion with ANYONE, I suggest.
Learn to accept reality. You certainly haven't realised it.
More drivel
@PeeBee:
I'm glad you agree with something I wrote. But I won't get too euphoric if you don't mind!
Counterfeiter: Well from my dictionary by looking up the word counterfeit itself (as there is no noun shown). Someone who copies without authority, imitates with intent to deceive, forges something, feigns something, a sham, false, an imitation, an imposer.
I'd say these adjectives could be used perfectly fairly to describe certain estate agencies I could mention, (and some of those working within them) these days.
You may like to try and suggest that I chose a word incorrectly and to pretend to have superior knowledge (albeit as a mere Troll) but such a high stance is easily demolished by even a glimmer of reason, shining on the murky object currently under scrutiny. The form of counterfeiting that involves psyching up asking prices has been detected and that's what I'm trying to tell everyone - including you; whoever your actually are.
I wish that one day we could have a serious, meaningful and useful discussion on the topic of how best to get the housing market back to a reasonable level of turnover, for everyone's benefit, even (dare I say) estate agents.
"These people usually pretend to be mentors (or experts) lauding over the readership but are in fact totally delusional, just convinced they have some mission or quest for some form of fame."
THAT, is the most sensible and correct thing you have ever written on this site - or anywhere else I would suggest for that matter.
Strange that it is a direct stab in your own back, though...
Methinks you are in that state of confusion again...
Which brings me to one of your most recent Tw@tter splatters:
"Estate agents like counterfeiters, make it up when describing houses to best advantage and they make the asking price up too, to cap it all!"
Actually, a counterfeiter doesn't make up ANYTHING, Mr RR. They COPY, with intricate attention to detail, with the intention of the facsimile to be flawless and undetectable.
Confused - you will be...
@ ???
Troll(ism), is still alive in today's society. It keeps speaking for itself because trolls just self-select themselves, like weeds.
Computer technology has meant a leap forward in both text and video communication.
What is less welcome however, is the birth of a sort of sub-society of anonymous aliens (unidentified bloggers, or trolls), who believe they can say anything they like, without any of them taking any responsibility for it.
These people usually pretend to be mentors (or experts) lauding over the readership but are in fact totally delusional, just convinced they have some mission or quest for some form of fame. How sad for them.
I guess we should feel sorry for them, though there would be no point in acceding to their wishes, despite doing that.
"...PeeBee: No I haven't left this thread..."
I didn't say you had - wardy did. I said you'd abandoned EVERY OTHER - because you do that. The proof is there to be seen - unlike ANY 'proof' from you that you are talking anything other than unadulterated MDT.
But, of course, in your state of confusion (which I will dwell more on as I write...) you seem to believe that wardy and I are one and the same person.
"It almost seems as if you, along with many estate agents simply do not care that over-pricing is a major contributing factor to the nearly 40% of sellers whose houses will fail to sell at all this year."
OOPS - got your statistics all twisted now, Mr RR, as only a week or so ago you were bleating that homeowners had "...a 34% chance of being sold within the next year."
That would leave some 66%, would it not? Still - I can't blame you for this obvious state of confusion, as you twist and turn so many ways you surely cannot know which way you are facing or even which day it is.
Now here's the thing. You state that all this is due to AGENTS putting incorrect 'values' on properties. Hmmm - yet on your own woeful website, you allow SELLERS to 'value' their own properties. Oh, yes - you tell them either to use an AVM or not, as may be their particular choice - but then you state:
"When using (...woeful website...) to market houses, we suggest you keep your asking price looking attractive and say ‘Offers over’ on your asking price - in a rising market. (‘Guide price’ suggests you’re not really sure!).
Our systems are currently set to display prices as ‘Offers over’ as the default position and we assume you will price accordingly."
"WE ASSUME YOU WILL PRICE ACCORDINGLY"
So - NO checks; NO requirements; NO guarantees that ANY of the prices quoted on your woeful website are ANYTHING other than seller fantasy!
You quote statistics without foundation because they suit your crusade; you pontificate on matters that despite claiming to be the font of knowledge you are clearly clueless and ignorant of the fundamental factor - the HUMAN factor; and you simply aim to brush aside any (or should I say MANY, MANY - including the RICS that you were presumably once proud to be a Member of, the NAEA, corporate and independent Estate Agency principals, and Governments past and present to name but several thousand...) who do not grunt agreement to your MDT. Yet, you seem to think that it is just wardy and myself that have it in for you.
You are, indeed, a very, very, confused soul.
House buyers and everyone else should lose interest in any such reports ! It just stirs poor old "realising Sweet Fanny Adams" to post twaddle, hes actually worse than all the HPC boys, can't believe I said that!
@PeeBee:
No I haven't left this thread but I don't live here all the time though either!
It almost seems as if you, along with many estate agents simply do not care that over-pricing is a major contributing factor to the nearly 40% of sellers whose houses will fail to sell at all this year.
Instead estate agents just seem to want to keep adding houses to their respective shop windows, working in competition with each other to see who might survive the downturn.
The result is a yawning gap between asking prices and completed sale prices, which was recently said to be approaching £60,000 per property, on average (Henry Pryor’s figures).
The need to correct this is more pressing that ever, and without definite and urgent correction, this will lead to a stagnated housing market, possibly lasting for several years.
It seems that only Government intervention can achieve the necessary correction in the way houses are marketed rather than being sold effectively in this country.
"Hes already abandoned this thread..."
wardy - show me one thread that he HASN'T abandoned as soon as the heat gets turned above frigid... ;o)
The man has the staying power of a Mayfly! ;o)
which begs the question of whether this was politically motivated
the boe committee were said to be independent,well in that case as economists they would have automatically put up interest rates when they saw things overheating
why would a committee then go on to stave off a recession when recessions are a known naturally and necessary occuring event?
"the issue is how prices got to unsustainable levels in the first place"
House prices were overheating at the turn of the century. Two events (the bursting of the dot com bubble and September 11th) around that time suggested a recession would be imminent though. Interest rates were therefore cut. This cheap credit flooded the housing market and also allowed the government to borrow money at unusually low rates. House prices carried on rising and the left-leaning government in power at the time borrowed money and boosted the public sector through the creation of a flurry of non-jobs.
Joe public really liked the outcome of this cheap credit. Egged on by relentless property porn in the mainstream media, they thought they were getting richer because their house was rising in price (failing to grasp that all other houses were rising by the same percentages). Mortgage Equity Withdrawal was extremely popular, with lots spent on frivolous purchases including cruises and sports cars. Bountiful employment opportunities in the public sector further fuelled the feel good factor. Thus, the public voted in droves for more of the same, despite the government's fiasco in Iraq.
To keep the party going, increasingly imaginative means of supplying cheap credit had to be found. 125% mortgages, liar loans and interest only deals were thus created and snapped up. The authorities turned a blind eye to this, knowing that the longer they kept this charade going, the longer they would stay in power. A classic example of this was when, despite being most people's largest expense, the cost of housing was removed from official inflation figures. Thus the economy was not seen to be overheating when it was. The alarm bells heralding an unsutainable boom were deliberately turned off and interest rates cut further when exactly the opposite was needed.
Eventually this would boil over somewhere and it did in the form of Northern Rock. Countries around the world had been playing the same game though. Thanks to today's globalised banking system, the subprime crisis in the world's largest economy (another creative means of extending cheap credit) rippled across the planet and heralded the Credit Crunch. The Ponzi scheme was revealed for all it really was.
As countries continue to battle against the fallout of all that banking debt, the second aspect of the cheap credit is now boiling over - how much governments borrowed beyond their means. As the Eurozone crisis blows up, this will be presented as a totally separate issue from the boom in house prices. In reality, the cause is identical. The problems in Greece and Spain are different symptoms of the same original problem.
Thus, the initial decision to cut interest rates at the turn of the century succesfully staved off a recession at the expense of creating a depression.
Theoretical question what would happen if no sale no fee was banned?
"Agents have a legal duty to push the market" please clarify what you mean?
The Agents didn't fail, most are still open with the original partners at the helm.
It was the financial and insurance institutions who bought into agency that pulled out of an indusrty they did not understand. I think you have a bright future in either Banking or Insurance!
"the issue is how prices got to unsustainable levels in the first place"
Basically mortgage surveyors followed purchasers into agreed sales, ratified the purchase price thus confirming a rising market.
Agents have a legal duty to push the market, surveyors have a duty to protect the lender or purchaser. Lets think about it Mr Hendry and friends. Agents get nailed for doing their job and yet it is the surveyors who are so vocal about the way they operate. Perhaps Mr Hendry should have been so vocal when he was taking a fee for rubber stamping what he is now claiming were excessive agreed prices during his entire working life.
@patronising dave
=============================================
didn't fail, the Partners who were paid very well to sell to Prudential and Black Horse simply bought back their firms, often for a quid, from corporations that did not understand Agency.
============================================
????????????sounds like failure to me
p.s.prudential wrote off 300 mill from the whole fiasco
RR, the issue is how prices got to unsustainable levels in the first place. How EAs conduct their business is up to them.
Where we do agree is that we need a sharp correction. The world will still turn on its axis, it's all just numbers on a screen - though the bankers would have us believe otherwise. Sure, some people will take a haircut but such is the way after any bubble bursts.
What's your plan then fella?
Peter Hendry .... learn how to be retired!
If YOU were informed you would know that those Agencies didn't fail, the Partners who were paid very well to sell to Prudential and Black Horse simply bought back their firms, often for a quid, from corporations that did not understand Agency.
Week after week, post after post you treat us to your view of the world, what a Scatologist is doing posting on hear is beyond me!
Sibley's B'stard Child
What's wrong with what POTW said is this:
YOU may think the no-sale/no-fee model and over-valuing is a small problem but if you accept it is a problem, why not let's now work to fix that?
I think its a lot bigger a problem than you obviously do!
Realising Reality
'I personally believe we should do something positive to change this for the better.'
What? As you well know a house price correction of any significance will trash the economy. Who wants that?
'Does anyone agree?'
Of course any sane person wants MUCH lower house prices. High house prices suck money out of the economy and into the greedy paws of bankers. They benefit no-one apart from them.
The situation we are in really ought to be an object lesson to all in power. This lending boom nonsense must NEVER be allowed to happen again and we need 20 years of a flat housing market for prices to rebalance and for young people to be able to afford somewhere to live.
Stick to Japan, you have no idea of the UK, No Sale No Fee was standrad long before the 90s fool.
lets be honest here,interest rates are 0.5% for a reason
had they remained at historically quite low 5.75% then prices would have collapsed 50% or more sparked by a wave of forced sales
fact is...the housing bubble was bailed out at the expense of our kids....the consequences of which are unknown
RR, I can't see anything wrong with what POTW said; if anything that's the only logical outcome.
The problem isn't so much with EAs but with the wider public who cling to the notion that rising house prices are a desirous thing. What they don't understand is that for every £ they 'make' is someone else's equivalent liability.
Sure, the no-sale/no-fee model and over-valuing (what you don't have you can't sell) only encourages kite flyers but that's only a small part of the problem.
'prudential,black horse agencies etc etc
lots of agents 'failed'
if you were informed you would be able to fill in an obvious spelling error
"In the 90s loads of agents feel..pru,black horse etc etc ."
Can anyone explain that sentance?
POTW
good luck with this one mate.
Hes already abandoned this thread:
http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/news_features/Stop-playing-it-so-safe-lenders-are-told#comments
Puzzled of Tunbridge Wells:
It's not quite as simple as that, unfortunately.
Also, your argument appears to be merely advocating the status quo. This means we shall continue to have bad slumps followed by periods of excessive house-price escalation.
I personally believe we should do something positive to change this for the better.
Does anyone agree?
@RealisingReality
.... 'Markets work depending on prices. The inescapable reason why the housing market is not and has not been trading at adequate levels of completed transactions is because the prices currently being quoted are too high.
Why are estate agents, together with sellers, failing to recognise this fact? ...'
I would have thought a five year old could work that one out. If a 4 bed estate detached house up the road from you sells, eventually, for 500k - why on earth would you sell yours for less?
As long as the market is stumbling along, everyone will hold out for their price unless it is a forced sale. Forced sales, thanks to concerted action by the banks - to avoid having to downgrade their loan book - are still at relatively low levels.
This merry go round will only end when the cash that is driving the market runs out and banks are forced to revalue their loan books as the market goes down and - hey presto - banking crisis 2 takes place.
I think with so many pools of knowledge and these lovely stastics we should produce something like a glass's guide to hoiuse prices and the we can speak with authority and the public would just have to take it . Works in the motor trade!! Ha Ha
in the 90s crash transaction levels were twice that of today
and agents were in fact the main driver initially of price falls as no sale no fee kicked in
These days agents are surviving because houseprices have trebled but costs have not(i.e higher cash fee amounts) and forebearance on their overdrafts
In the 90s loads of agents feel..pru,black horse etc etc
not many this time...for now
It’s time to face the music and address the house price problem.
There is an urgent need for estate agents to add new tools to their toolkit, in the present market conditions.
Markets work depending on prices. The inescapable reason why the housing market is not and has not been trading at adequate levels of completed transactions is because the prices currently being quoted are too high.
Why are estate agents, together with sellers, failing to recognise this fact?
It is because some agents exaggerate prices just to get the sales instruction, rather than basing them on the true value of the property. Many still openly admit they are forced to have to do this, because agents in competition do it!
What’s particularly curious is that in his online blog surgery on March 9, housing minister Grant Shapps wrote in answer to questions about excessive house prices: “It’s impossible to know precisely what constitutes the right house price.”
For a re-cap please read:
http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/news_features/Peter-Hendry-blog
Who cares if prices are going up or down 0.000002%. If they are selling in your area then so what!
If they are not selling then ask yourself why and deal with it. Such a lot of hot air about nowt!
Rantnrave where do you find out the land reg data the day before ? ive seen you have had an acurate prediction over the last few months.
@Nick
It's clear then that Hometrack have twigged onto the fact that many agents pretty much make the figures up when someone from Hometrack calls them.
Apperently 23% of statistics are made up on the spot.
Excellent point Nick.
By comparison, tomorrow's Land Reg data of sold prices for April will show a fall of 0.3% MoM and a 16th straight month of YoY negative.
I wish the details were made clear. These are asking prices.
The Hometrack report even calls this 'A sentiment survey not an index'. To me, it is a delusion index, and not much can be read from it.
I don't wish anyone harm,thats why I'm hoping people will see sense and deleverage
having done a thesis on japanese credit bust,I can assure you many people took their lives because of their unwillingness to get out while they could..then realising they made a mistake
I guess I'm speaking from an informed eye of the devastating effects of a burst credit bubble
thats is what has happened here and the effects will go on for 20 years
and by the same measure, wishing the pox on anybody that owns a home isn't very usefull either is it?
Its intresting that you say the word debate. Your posts seem to be written in fact rather than opinion. Instead of 'it will be' why not use 'I think' if it's a debate your after?
@wardy
your problem is that you lack awareness,so debate/conversation can be awkward
we are on the cusp of some very difficult times in the uk and trying to be optimistic for the sake of it is futile
we need to be realistic and prepare for a difficult future,however,when we find that there is more to life than the pursuit of wealth we will be happier
@dave
I reckon you could be the most boring bloke ever. Your rants are based on nothing more than a hatred of landords, estate agents and something that you read about japan.
Have you got anything more or is that it?
You win the award for person I least want to have a pint with.
I suspect continuing average house price rises are all to do with Far East 'investors' and Europeans fleeing the Eurozone.
The natives are priced out and the foreigners have been gifted a 35% devaluation of Sterling. And the Estate Agents are happy to sell their Grandmother's family silver.
This country is really in a sorry state.
@hawkeye
try to argue the point not the person
I seem to have touched a nerve..I hope you are not over leveraged on property as you may be quite quickly facing financial ruin
still a chance to deleverage before its too late
don't forget if they take your btl portfolio they'll come after the family have too
@Dave
You are quite obviously no EA so why dont you P155 off and annoy someone else. You are mostly talking out of what you should sit on.
Ditto @The Truth but I agree on the banks not sloshing around money as if it were going out of fashion.
@Toast you know that Easter is a wash out as are all Bank Holidays these days. We have a double coming up soon so shall we all shut up shop for the week?
plenty of property up north for 30-60k
I have no idea why people won't go up there but will pay 6 times that to live in dregs of london
with broadband,companies SHOULD be relocating to cheap areas to cut costs
I figure bailing out the economy has also bailed out businesses that should have been left to succeed or fail on their own merits
If your son or daughter was signing up for their first 25 year death pledge - and their maximum borrowing at the moment was £100k - bearing in mind the 25 year duration of the death pledge and the fact that not many people can rely on job security these days and that interest rates are currently very low - ho wmuch would you recommend they borrow to allow them a comfort zone against interest rates increasing in the future and their need to build up savings to cover any period of unemployment or illness.
How much would you recommend they borrow?
The advert to the right of this article says it all - a seminar on how to offload crappy UK property on unsuspecting Chinese!
I'd have thought most Chinese are smart enough to work out that if you have to go to the other side of the world to find buyers for your over-priced rabbit hutches, there might be a reason for that.....
Nothing to do with the World economy then? Is anyone buying anything they don't need?
Nice and refreshing to see realistic agents posting.
Not sure about the massive reductions but Ive said 15% needs to come off at least to balance things out.
I don't see the problem, they've gone up haven't they?
I have it from no less an authority than Ray Boulger that they always will. I'll be fillin' me boots, why not join me?
I just love you guys!
Big kiss from me and stop the ranting.
Mwah!
'the slowdown mirrored the pattern of previous years, with activity falling after Easter'
But I thought Easter was the moment the housing market takes off every year - you know, the 'traditional Easter kick-off for the housing market' as we always read about in the meejah....
Oh dear, don't tell me the 'Spring bounce' has been cancelled for another year!
The reality of it is that anyone with half a brain knows that house prices are vastly over-valued. .The continued constriction of available money and rise in mortgage rates will lead them to fall just as the unbridled ease of borrowing and lending caused them to rise. Anyone who thinks banks will once again thrash money around like a drunken sailor like they did from 2004-07 is seriously deluded.
eventually they lost interest in tulips in amsterdam
who wants to be a debt slave all their life?
when the penny drops that houseprices are 30-50% over valued then expect prices to fall for 20 years and not recover
wages are falling and until they rise,houseprices under the present lending criterea will not rise
as prices plunge ftbs will buy rather than rent as rented is not fit for purpose
who are the btl brigade going to rent their properties to?