Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008
Searches for HPC are up 40% year on year
Hitwise Blogs - Robin Goad: Property websites and the online house price crash
This blog post from Hitwise Intelligence shows how web users searching for "house price crash" have increased by 43% in the year to November, whereas searches for "house prices" are down 20%.
Posted by paulm @ 07:49 PM (393 views) Add Comment
12 Comments
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1. Eternal Sceptic said...
(To a composition by Johann Sebastion Bach No 9 from the birthday cantata)
Even the sheople are awaking to the harsh reality.
2. magnifico said...
I wonder how many people googled those three words, like i did, back in 2004
3. inflation is eating my savings said...
Probably get more hits these days from "buy gold"
Buy gold, more gold yeah.
mmmmm. Gold. mmmmm.
Gold mining is soooo ethical isn't it.
mmmmmm, buy gold, yeah
yeah.
4. drewster said...
iiems:
You can see the stats for yourself at Google Trends:
"house price crash" - a clear, if gradual, uptrend
"recession" - people getting increasingly concerned
"mortgages" - very seasonal, with a clear spring bounce every year. Will be interesting to see what happens this year.
"buy gold" - a gradual uptrend
"property investment" - a clear downtrend, though with a seasonal bounce in January - something about Christmas makes people want to go out and become amateur landlords?
Not convinced on the gold figures though. Compare "oil prices" with "gold prices". Both seem to have spiked along with commodities in general. What's really interesting is below, the lists of countries and cities where the search terms are most popular. Americans are only interested in oil, but the rest of the world is interested in gold. Food for thought....
5. Marvin said...
Surely this should be seen as a minor victory for hpc, because for all the conspiracy/mayan end of the world nonsense, my interest in this site was primarily about seeing an end to the house price bubble. Now people are actively seeking the bottom of the downturn. It is nowhere in sight, but the gradual awakening will, I think, make the fall sharper, and to be honest the sharper the fall the quicker the recovery/ readjustment - Okay people are getting burnt (I'm sorry, but I could of mortgaged myself up to the eyeballs to buy a rabbit hutch but I didn't and neither am I being smug- my savings have taken a pounding in real terms) which, again, I hope will prevent us getting into to the same cr@p anytime soon. End of money I don't think so..... shift in the balance of power perhaps, America's reign of global superpower maybe coming to an end which means the mantle will be passed on. We sucked up to the last lot, chances are we'll suck up to the next lot.
6. inflation is eating my savings said...
drewster thanks for the very interesting links.
Christmas would seem to be a time where people get their doo-doos together. Maybe it's all the pheasant they have been eating.
I presume you also noticed the 5 year trends on mortgages and property investment.
7. inflation is eating my savings said...
Also interesting that most of the hpc hits are from Cambridge. Bored economics students? Or did JMK set up some kind blogging society in his will? Or are they just smart cos of all that port they drink. Same thing perhaps?
8. drewster said...
iiems,
Cambridge is both very expensive (relative to salaries) and has a high proportion of renters who stand to gain from a crash. Lots of hopeful wishers there, presumably.
9. jackas said...
I love the list of headlines, summing up the development in a nutshell:
Mortgage Lenders Dismiss House Price Crash
Motley Fool UK - Oct 29 2007
'The house price crash starts in 2008'
This is Money - Dec 31 2007
Do lower sales volumes equal a house price crash?
CityWire.co.uk - Feb 5 2008
Brown: House price crash 'containable'
MyFinances.co.uk - Apr 8 2008
House price crash the worst since the war
Spectator.co.uk (subscription) - Jul 10 2008
10. drewster said...
jackas - Nice one!
11. gone-to-colombia said...
Interesting, but for me the best days seem to be over, I recall the small fall in prices in 2006 and then the rise after that.
People were wondering where the market was heading. I much prefered being in a small minority than being mainstream.
Yet, this crash has a long way to go, we are in historic times.
12. gone-to-colombia said...
I had a good read about 'mosaic groups' as mentioned in the article.
These 'experts' seek to define us all, then place us neatly into a group, once defined these groups represent a marketing opportunity - don't they?
Well no, they don't, what they really represent is the class conscious prejudices of these self appointed experts.
I find their superior sensibilities together with their clumsy use of alliteration pitiful.
This kind of categorization tells us much more about the prejudices of the like of the Hitwise folks than it ever will about the people they seek to pigeon hole.
Here are a few of their categories –
Symbols of success, Provincial Privilege, Semi-Rural Seclusion, Sprawling Subtopia.
I suspect that with the coming economic tsunami they might have to invent a few more, here are my suggestions
BTL over a barrel,
No house, no savings, no chance,
Detached dystopia
Semi-rural sand box
Any more suggestions out there?