The taxman has reported that the number of homes that changed hands in August fell by 6,000 on July’s figure.
According to HMRC, just 78,000 properties were sold.
The figure compares with 151,000 in July 2007, the height of the boom, and was also down 10,000 on August 2010.
The poor figures for completed sales compares with an NAEA report out this morning which claimed a rise in the number of sales agreed in August, from an average of seven in July to eight in August. The report also says that “both the level of demand for property and the number of completed transactions” had increased, reflecting a better than expected summer for the UK market.
The NAEA’s figures per branch are virtually double what the latest RICS report has said. The RICS says its agents are selling houses at the rate of roughly one a week.
.png)
Comments
They are.
@Richard
So what would the projected average sales per month per estate agent be....say about 5!
Is that enough to survive?
"Still, it seems we're weeks or possibly days away from a very significant global economic event. I'm happy that I can get access to my cash immediately and not have it tied up in an illiquid asset."
You might find your liquid cash disappears in a banking collapse. Last time around they were 30 minutes away from closing the cash machine network.
Maybe you should get in a stock of baked beans, flour and potatoes? (Beans on toast with fried potatoes on the side - luxury!) I'm sure the last thing on your landlord's mind will be kicking you out if there is a banking collapse.
The fall in silver and gold seem good buying opportunities. However price falls in houses seem to continue this year and likely after that.
On top of that silver costs are well below what they should be. You could make some very good returns on silver and certain shares.
Are you a closet Daily Express reader? I'm not sure what the point you're trying to make is? Comes across as a bit of denial / desperation about having made the wrong investment choices...
Personally, I'm not invested in any of those. Gold has fallen to the level it was at the second week of August. It was $1,300 an ounce this time last year and is now at £1,700. So, at present, a very significant rate of return over the last 12 months, unlike say, houses. In real terms property is selling at 2003 prices.
I go with online savings accounts - steady as she goes. I'm earning a rate that is certainly better than BTL in my area could offer and doesn't have the current capital depreciation either.
Still, it seems we're weeks or possibly days away from a very significant global economic event. I'm happy that I can get access to my cash immediately and not have it tied up in an illiquid asset.
Hi RnR
Talking of people unlikely to be adding to the number of house buyers any time soon......
The hpc-ers favourite investments, Swiss francs, Silver, Gold, etc. All falling off a cliff in the last couple of weeks. 25% fall in just the last 48 hours, for one of them. :)
In fact, when measured against such "true stores of wealth", UK house price rises have been positively soaring lately. :)
I assume that the RICS figures refer only to their members. If so, they do not mean very much because are not the majority of sales by non-RICS agents?
The economy looks like it's really going to pick up in the second half of the year too...
Here's someone who is unlikely to add to the sale numbers though:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2040984/Buy-house-Desperate-home-owner-takes-property-slump-advertising-sale-SANDWICH-BOARD.html#
LoL. File that one under 'deluded Boomer'.
That’s still pushing back up to the 1M mark on an annualised basis, not the news HPC nutters seek.
Have a nice weekend.