Saturday, Nov 17, 2007
UK agent hit by cancelled home sales
FT: UK agent hit by cancelled home sales
Britain’s biggest chain of estate agents, Countrywide, is to close down branches after being hit by a spate of cancelled sales amid the gloomiest outlook for the housing market since the early 1990s.
Posted by katia @ 06:14 PM (877 views) Add Comment
9 Comments
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1. confused76 said...
“Mr Average is just seeing this maelstrom of news going around his head, most of which isn’t very good,” he said. “Even if he goes to buy a house, he goes to the pub and half his mates say he must be mental. So he rings up and changes his mind.”
Mr Hill said the downturn had been prompted by the credit crunch and was unlikely to ease until conditions stabilised or interest rates came down."
Very good!! Blame the media, blame the blokes at the pub, fact is the house market is ripe for a crash!
2. Ihopeitgoeswithabang said...
Maybe the bloke down the pub has a point ! lol
Maybe Mr Hill should listen to the man down the pub more often himself!
3. the northerner living in oz said...
The only thing keeping prices up for the last two years
is the blind faith that house increase in value for ever
It is now clear from the postings on this website that the U.K public have been cured of that delusion.
4. brightonrentfodder said...
lets face it these are the guys largely responsible for HPI so good riddance to them. too many on the high street anyway. just think what a psychological effect that will have when they start to close down!
5. Rentoffanothersucker said...
Forget the rhetoric, forget the graphs and figures, all these are open to manipulation.
Simple fact is, the biggest estate agents in the country is laying off staff and closing branches.
That means one things: They're not making enough money to operate because they can't sell enough goods (houses) to keep their employees employed.
Now does that spell insufficient demand or not?
The good times are over. Wake up, get real.
6. talking rot said...
Fewer estate agents are needed because fewer people are looking to buy. This is a good indicator that demand is dropping. With less demand downward pressure will be added to house prices.
And a few estate agents loose their jobs - oh dear, what a pity.
7. Wilee said...
Seems hardly six months have passed since the stories on the blog of persons being the lone dissenter at dinner parties, saying that a correction was (over)due and being persecuted and ridiculed for it.
Jump forward six months and now behold, "...he goes to buy a house, he goes to the pub and half his mates say he must be mental." That's a pretty rapid change in public opinion if you ask me.
8. drewster said...
In the gold rush, it's the people selling picks and shovels who make the money. Estate agents are the picks and shovels of the real-estate gold rush; if they're doing badly then it means the gold rush is over.
9. Happy Mondays said...
Let's not be to harsh on the employees of these guys, they have been swept along with the greedy for gold syndrome as have been the majority of the rest of the nation..Let's hope we learn something this time !
What's that hopi indian saying : Only when the last river is poisoned, the last wild animal hunted and the last tree felled, that we then realise that you cannot eat money..