Wednesday, Sep 24, 2008
Get the 'world's smallest violin' jpg ready
Dorset Echo: Estate agents cut jobs as housing crisis bites
PROPERTY prices in Bournemouth and Poole have plunged by up to 20 per cent according to one local estate agent who has been forced to cut his workforce by a third.
Gary Witheyman, a former chairman of the National Association of Estate Agents, said: "Confidence in the market has gone; it's the worst trading time I can remember and has hit us much worse than the late 80s recession.
"In January this year it was like someone had suddenly turned the lights off. We used to register between 800 and 1,000 new properties every month; at the moment it's down to 120 a month."
He added: "In general house prices here have fallen by around 20 per cent.
"Despite all the doom and gloom, if you've got the money it is a very good time to buy."
Posted by little professor @ 07:48 PM (804 views) Add Comment
10 Comments
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1. hpwatcher said...
ha ha ha....
2. debtfree said...
Brilliant !
Poole is so overpriced for a hillbilly place, reality had to set in sooner or later.
3. Ephemera said...
People in glass houses, debtfree....
I live in Poole, have done nearly all my life. Had a great conversation last week with a young estate agent, who is desperate to sell me a house. (I'm in the market for one but in no rush!) He was telling me about all the wonderful shared equity schemes out there, and that he had just bought a house himself, and thought it was a great time to buy. Yeah, right.
Being a little older and wiser than he, and in an industry that is pretty much recession proof, I'm in no hurry to buy and am of the opinion that the market has a long way to go down, even here in 'banjo country'. I found it funny that he had swallowed so much of his own hype he believed this was a blip. Poor soul, I wish him well in his innocence but I think he will be selling up soon at a loss....Or could he have been *gasp* telling untruths???
In the meantime here in hillbilly land I'll enjoy the open, relatively unspoiled countryside, the ability to take a walk by the sea after work and the best of the weather, even if it's overpriced. I like it here.
4. sneaker said...
"Despite all the doom and gloom, if you've got the money it is STILL A VERY GOOD TIME TO SELL."
5. Plato said...
There are loads of sad EA' comments in this and by sad I mean pathetic in the most cynical way. Here's one :
"After making up the bulk of our sales, buy to let investors have virtually dried up. It's a buyers' market and if I had spare capital I'd invest in property when prices are so low."
Never put their money where their mouth is. There is always some excuse attached to their 'qualified' advice.
6. Jackie May said...
The prices of the few houses in Southampton I have been watching have never changed. Base on what you say the house price has dropped 20%?
7. mark said...
shame reality is not hitting rest of the country
8. mark wadsworth said...
"Despite all the doom and gloom, if you've got the money it is TIME TO SAY GOOD BYE"
9. handle_it said...
I have to laugh ! I worked with a guy who in is spare time was a bobby. Not wanting to stereotype, as I'm sure some of these guys do a great job,but he was a knob. Anyway he left a quite well paid and secure job to join a local estate agents. This was summer 2007.I expressed my concern at his choice but he was having none of it. I haven't heard from him but my guess he's not doing so good.. Snigger...
10. Kruador said...
Just go and look at the graph on the front page of this site. Prices are not "low". They are not even close to "low". They are still high and unreasonably high. We should perhaps measure the trend of the troughs, which by my eye gives maybe £90k - £100k. Still a very very long way to fall.