Worcester Estate Agents

[Alfie Moon]

In particular I was wondering about Platinum Estate Agents based in the St John's area of Worcester.

I keep track of the activity of quite a large number of the Worcester Estate Agents and all have seen their transaction levels crash since 2007 without any significant recovery being experienced. Indeed it seems to be getting worse for them in 2010.

Land Registry data reveals the number of property sales in Worcester to have been:

2006 - 2690 sold

2007 - 2179 sold

2008- 1180 sold

2009 - 811 sold by end of October so should end up being about 973 in total for 2009

The second half of 2009 does not seem to have been any better than the first half.

2009 looks like it experienced, in Worcester, a 64% crash in property sales compared to 2006.

In terms of the EA's surviving - yes many are relying on the rental market to generate an income as well as having honed down their staff to the bare minimum.

Platinum in St John's, Worcester, however seem to be particularly poor at selling property. Currently they have a very small number of SSTC properties but most of these went SSTC last year (way back into last year!). So far this year they have managed to get 1 property to go SSTC in January and none in February so far. So, how do they keep going? Anyone know anything about Platinum - especially the St John's Worcester branch?

Other Worcester EA's have also seen very few transactions (or SSTC's) this year so far.

[Alfie Moon]

Just to add to the Worcester story (from what I posted on another thread on the main discussion forum):

Just looked at the Worcester stats again in light of the Buyers Strike:

2006 - 2690 properties sold

2007 - 2179 sold

2008 - 1180

2009 - 811 sold by end of October so heading towards about 973 for the complete year.

So, compared to 2006, 2009 witnessed a 64% collapse in property sales or if you like 64% of the buying population withdrew from the market to take part in a Buyers Strike.

Looking at Rightmove there are 28 Estate Agent outlets in Worcester involved in the sale of properties. This means that in 2009 the 28 Worcester Estate Agent outlets, on average, sold 34.75 properties throughout the year which is an average of 0.7 of a property per week - and this was during the year of the 'recovery'!!!!!!!

How on earth are they surviving on 0.7 of a property sale per week????? They must have their staff cut down to the absolute minimum and on the minimum wage. My understanding is that Estate Agents are paid a tiny salary and are supposed to make their real income from the slice they get from each completed sale they push through as individuals. How were they dividing 0.7 of a sale per week????

You can a similar story in just about any place you choose to look at via the Land Registry data for completed sales.

We really should be pushing 'awareness raising' of all this, and the Buyers Strike, to the public at large via readers comments on newspaper websites, etc. This is the sort of thing that can really impact on sentiment. You should see the reactions I get when I post this sort of material on local and national newspaper websites.

Edited March 19, 2010 by Alfie Moon

[Alfie Moon]

If you look on the BBC website in their House Prices section which has the Land Registry data - you will find that in the last Quarter of 2009 (Oct - Dec) house prices fell by -7% in Worcester. How many people in Worcester do you reckon know this? How many Worcester Estate Agents were telling members of the public during that Quarter (and no doubt all through 2010 so far) that house prices are rising in Worcester?

[Lacuna]

According to this in the local rag prices are rising rapidly-what is less clear is whether this is actually being reflected in completed sales

My link.

HOUSE prices in Worcester have seen some of the highest rises in the UK because the city is now such a nice place to live, according to an expert.

The city has experienced the eighth biggest rise in average house prices in the country from £34,266 in 1986 to £182,644 in 2011 (a 433 per cent increase), according to a report by Halifax published yesterday.

Charles Robinson, a director of Griffiths & Charles estate agents in Foregate Street, Worcester, said the rise was down to Worcester being a “really nice place to live”, but warned the market was still struggling.