The NAEA says the volume of stock on sale is nearing its lowest level for a decade, although the proportion being purchased is rising as the market hots up.
Association members had an average of 45 homes to sell in January but only 43 in February - the fifth successive monthly fall and approaching the 2004 low' of just 40.
Buyers aged 31 to 40 remained the backbone of transactions, making up half of the buyers seen in February according to the latest NAEA survey. The average length of time it takes to buy a property, from sale to completion, is 11 weeks.
The number of first time buyers entering the market has continued to improve with nearly a third of homes sold last month going to FTBs.
But the average number of new buyers registering with agents dropped 6.2 per cent last month compared with January - against the normal trend and possibly because of the poor weather in early February in much of England.
NAEA agents also reported that the percentage of properties sold to people purchasing a house using the Help To Buy equity loan scheme - recently extended until 2020 - remained the same month-on-month at an average four per cent.
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Comments
PeeBee. The point I am making is that the recent uptick in activity is, in fact, running on the back of inappropriately low interest rates. When these return to appropriate levels, for the economy in hand, prices will have to drop back.
Caveat Emptor rules alone! Especially whilst 'Help to Buy', or more accurately 'Help to Sell', remains in place as a political tool.
PeeBee. You obviously like 'monstering' anyone with game- changing ideas!
This type of language has no part in modern free-thinking and debating society.
You should realise it's normal for people not to support changes of most kinds whilst they are being contemplated, especially if they don't know a lot about it.
The age old estate agency systems we have had in place and relied upon for a good number of years now, are simply not working anymore.
But, you don't have to take this from me alone, ask Russell Quirk as one for example.
"PeeBee (or whoever)" Not whoever - PeeBee. You got THAT right, at least. Pity it all went Pete Tong and ran downhill like an avalanche for you after he first word of the post...
" I pity anyone trying to do business with you whilst trying to find and buy another home."
Yeah - I'd be your worst nightmare, pal. Difference between us is that I can negotiate. It's what I do best, you see - I had the title for long enough when I cut my teeth in the 70s and 80s - and I'm still practicing today.
YOU, on the other hand, seemingly can't even manage a website and that's your (self-appointed) job title.
As is "Consultant in Housing Valuation" - and no-one... repeat... NO-ONE takes you seriously in that self-awarded accolade either.
"The fact is the housing market is out of shape, it's all over the place and not a comfortable place to be in."
SO GET THE HLL OUT OF IT, THEN!
You clearly can't cut it - and yet you purport to be a professional in the housing industry. Last year, according to those statistics, a million 'amateurs' managed to buy a property. A million 'amateurs' managed to sell a property. Did you manager to do either
;o)
PeeBee (or whoever),
Beneath the smoke-screen of irony, the figures you quote are actually quite a concern, for they are too low by national standards when compared with what the country actually needs by way of current activity.
Your pithy invective is not what people need, when trying to concentrate on the issues at hand. You seem to have a similar demeanour to Nigel Farage, all hype and bluster and no calm and considered :D. I pity anyone trying to do business with you whilst trying to find and buy another home.
The fact is the housing market is out of shape, it's all over the place and not a comfortable place to be in. This discourages sufficient buyers to have a go.
Those working in it need to find the correct solution and resolve this dilemma. That's what I'm talking about.
Shouting at each other on public rooftops won't resolve anything :p.
"The stat. you are quoting, you have quoted before but you have failed to confirm (as previously requested) where this data was obtained from (and its authenticity)."
Oh you sad man. You prove YET AGAIN that you only want to believe what YOU write, and that you neither listen nor comprehend what others - that would be THE REST OF THE WORLD, by the way - have to say.
But, in the spirit of this idiotic game you like to play, allow me ONCE AGAIN to cut & paste the actual reply I gave you, in its' context:
RR - "...where did you get those stats"
Me - "That would be an official Government document, Sir. HMRC publication for UK Property Transaction Statistics. Look it up - I did."
I'm sorry that such a simple recommendation was apparently beyond you. As the "Website Manager" for your woeful offering, I had assumed that looking something up on the internet would have been a doddle - but then this proves the old adage about assume and ass, so I'll help you out further again.
The actual link to the document is
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/transactions/val-40000-or-above.pdf
However, on the basis that Googling was beyond your capabilities, here's the actual entry from the table produced on page 6 of the document:
2013
England: 927,850
Scotland: 86,040
Wales: 44,930
N. Ireland: 18,690
Total: 1,077,510
Hope this helps - but I don't for one second, think you'll accept it, seeing as HMRC aren't on your list of 'Official' sources.
Only YOU are on THAT list...
PeeBee (The undisclosed, incognito troll of estate agent today.)
Think:
The article says "Association members had an average of 45 homes to sell in January but only 43 in February - the fifth successive monthly fall and approaching the 2004 low of just 40"... etc. The volume of stock currently on sale is low, as the headline of this piece states. By definition, low levels of stock available for sale mean low prospects for sales numbers
The stat. you are quoting, you have quoted before but you have failed to confirm (as previously requested) where this data was obtained from (and its authenticity). It makes no sense. Sales volumes are low. It's a simple as that. We read even the big multi-branch firms are having to close offices and consolidate. Business has been thin, except in the South East of course.
I maintain that the housing market is dysfunctional and has been for a very long time. When are you foot-soldiers going to wake up to the fact and accept there's a need for a re-think
Mr Realising Reality. Seeing as you simply regurgitate the same MDT over and over again, I am going to take a leaf out of your comic and respond with a previously posted question, as follows:
The housing market has, according to some, a 'statistical norm' of some 1,000,000 transactions per annum.
Apparently, last year, that figure was achieved, with 1,077,510 completions.
With that being the case, and in view of what this article the ACTUALLY states - please explain your opening gambit: "Current sale volumes are far too low - indicating a dysfunctional housing market."
Makes your comments read like you don't haven't got a Scooby what the chuff you're banging on about.
Nice to read some reality for a change... ;o)
Current sale volumes are far too low - indicating a dysfunctional housing market because, effectively, only the cash rich or the relatively wealthy are able to participate - at the prices being quoted.
This harms the housing market by blocking the wider majority of participants from being able to participate alongside the richest.
The housing market needs to adjust, to cater for a wider section of potential participants otherwise low sales volumes will become endemic.
Clearly the way this cannot be achieved is simply by enabling those without much money to borrow more! This has been tried for most of the time during which the coalition have been in office but it hasn't resulted in increasing volumes of sales.
Someone within the estates discipline needs to be prepared to take this matter forward and single-handedly effect change for the benefit of all those wishing to participate in the process of buying and selling a house. The required way forward is to make pricing far more transparent. This would mean producing all the information on what has sold recently and which backs up the asking price of each property but agents should go even further. They should be prepared to act for parties at both ends of the move thus negotiating both sell, and buy prices for a specific client. This would help to ensure that fair (or market) prices are being paid by each specific client.
The other massively important aspect of moderating out-of-control house prices is to correct the fact that the inflation statistics don't currently take into account housing costs. They used to up until the Brown days. Before then, the measure used was called RPI, but dear Mr Brown decided to change the measure to CPI by removing housing costs from the equation. That hid the real level of inflation rather conveniently. It appears, the present coalition government have left the situation as it is and this means, again rather conveniently, the rising cost of housing is not being reflected in the inflation figures! Could this be because they want a new upswing in house prices before the next election; but they don't want this to show in the inflation figures, or they may have to put interest rates up
For more about what to do in order to remedy the situation, please see our earlier advice on improving the way in which houses are advertised and sold via estate agents across the UK:
No-one seems to be paying much attention to this currently.