Tuesday, Mar 18, 2008
All going in one direction
Guardian: House prices and mortgage deals down
For anyone trying to sell a house at the moment, the latest bout of financial gloom from Wall Street could not have come at a worse time. Estate agents across the country were reporting "grim times ahead" yesterday, with buyers "virtually non-existent" in many areas. Prices are falling by 5-10% in some cities.
"It's flatter than a flat pancake - properties that sold for £180,000 last year are struggling to make £150,000 now" says estate agent David Potter. "Buyers are frankly afraid to buy a house right now because they fear it will be worth £50,000 less in six months time, and you can't blame them." he said.
Posted by little professor @ 01:13 AM (955 views) Add Comment
10 Comments
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1. little professor said...
Nice to see the Guardian going beyond the RICS press release and using the actual EA quotes from the full report against them:
To be honest the EA quotes this time round were less bearish than in previous months, but the Guardian picks out the best ones for this article :D
2. little professor said...
Full report pdf
3. who stole my pension? said...
I didn't hear the EA's moan about the press when they were talking house prices up!
4. nopensionnohouse said...
@LP
Excellent! There is a negative axis in EVERY graph except Scotland and I find some of the EA comments at the back very amusing!
5. Hurry_up_and_crash said...
"People are being put off by the lurid headlines in the press. The more you guys write about it, the more consumer confidence falls," said one agent.
Didn't mind consumer confidence being built by comments over the last decade did you? Do these arrogant EA really think we public cannot see what is happening and conclude that prices are going to fall ourselves? No NO It's the nasty press causing all this trouble! - not years of cheap credit, babdly judged interest rate policies ...blah blah blah et al .etc etc etc
6. Loneranger said...
' "It's flatter than an already flat pancake, and prices have been falling by up to 20%," said David Potter, who runs the Norwich-based estate agency Potter & Co. He said properties that were selling in the city for £180,000 six months ago are now struggling to make £150,000. "Buyers are frankly afraid to buy a house right now because they fear it will be worth £50,000 less in six months time, and you can't blame them." he said.'
Well, if this report is true then I suppose the 'official' drop in house prices is much more than the reported 0.5% for last month!!!!
7. Jonathan said...
'"It's flatter than an already flat pancake, and prices have been falling by up to 20%," said David Potter, who runs the Norwich-based estate agency Potter & Co. He said properties that were selling in the city for £180,000 six months ago are now struggling to make £150,000. "Buyers are frankly afraid to buy a house right now because they fear it will be worth £50,000 less in six months time, and you can't blame them." he said.'
David Potter, the owner no less, of the Norwich based estate agency Potter & Co is extremely candid and therefore a rare beast!
Unless he was caught unawares ....
8. inbreda said...
I think it is about now that property developers (the hoards created from the bluster of all those property porn shows) will really be starting to get concerned. They will be finishing off the last of their laminate flooring make-overs and waiting for the property to sell. They will not be able to sell them, which means tehy won't be able to fund their next venture, which means the stupidest form of buyers will be removed from the market. Panic will set in shortly afterwards as they realise that paying the mortgage on an empty residence when prices are not going up is a mugs game.
9. inbreda said...
"Battersea – London
Tim Le Blanc –Smith Esq. MRICS
John D. Wood & Co.
February has been a frantic month, but with a
disappointing bottom line to show for it."
Frantic month but disappointing bottom line? Sounds to me like lots of houses coming up for sale but very few buyers. Now what's that a recipe for?
10. mark wadsworth said...
That sounds more like "Flatter than a flat pancake. That's very slippery and sloping downwards"