Truss Collection - Swansea

[The Masked Tulip]

My paperboy knocked on the door this afternoon asking if I would donate to his collection for a truss - Swansea's property paper is so full of houses tonight, and so heavy, it seems like most of the houses in Swansea are up for sale. Um, I thought this was the quiet time of the year!

Even my 79 year old Mum commented on it and could not believe how many houses were available to rent.

[magictorch]

Yup a decrease in prices too. At east 5-7% off them prices. Can't wait to see those land reg. figures.

[The Masked Tulip]

I noticed that one EA had an entire page of 'Reduced Price' and 'Back On Market' properties.

[sonixtorm]

Can't wait to see those land reg. figures.

It will be interesting, but I don't know how much will show up in the forthcoming report - my money would be on some shocks in Q1 2006.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I have found my rather limited monitoring of the land reg figures puzzling. I keep an eye on the sales for the street opposite where I work (Carmarthen direction). It's typical BTL territory with a terraced advertising for ~95K, with one or two dearer properties at either end. At one point earlier this year there were 12 for sale signs in the road (from four different agents), but from around April onwards quite a few Sold SSTC signs have appeared. I would estimate the turnover to be ~10 since April if the signs are to be believed. What I find most interesting is that the only two properties that have appeared in the Land Registry data are listed at £140,000 and £110,000. I can accept that some of the data is delayed, and that some of the estate agents may be advertising sales that fall through, but it seems odd that in a street where the average advertised price seems to be around £95,000, the next set of Land Reg figures are likely to have an average of £125K.

[Goat]

It will be interesting, but I don't know how much will show up in the forthcoming report - my money would be on some shocks in Q1 2006.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I have found my rather limited monitoring of the land reg figures puzzling. I keep an eye on the sales for the street opposite where I work (Carmarthen direction). It's typical BTL territory with a terraced advertising for ~95K, with one or two dearer properties at either end. At one point earlier this year there were 12 for sale signs in the road (from four different agents), but from around April onwards quite a few Sold SSTC signs have appeared. I would estimate the turnover to be ~10 since April if the signs are to be believed. What I find most interesting is that the only two properties that have appeared in the Land Registry data are listed at £140,000 and £110,000. I can accept that some of the data is delayed, and that some of the estate agents may be advertising sales that fall through, but it seems odd that in a street where the average advertised price seems to be around £95,000, the next set of Land Reg figures are likely to have an average of £125K.

The problem with the LR figures is the length of the delay, Sept 05 figures reflect sales completed in that period however in many cases the sales would have been agreed as far back as the end of last year.

Q1 should be interesting but I would not expect any major drops to appear in the LR data until Q2 & 3

[The Masked Tulip]

Swansea and West Wales is just nuts in terms of advertised prices. I put no faith in recent LR figures personally as I have seen some figures quoted for houses I know have sold in Swansea and the LR figures have been all over the shop.

Bottom line, IMPO, HPs in the area are going to fall at least 40 to 50 percent, much more in some Welsh areas, and it is only a matter of time before this happens. Wales is booming currently but, in economic downturns for the UK, Wales ALWAYS get thrown to the wolves. Anyone who remembers the 1980s will know exactly what I am talking about.

There is a global downturn coming.

[The Masked Tulip]

HOUSE OWNERS IN STRUGGLE TO KEEP AFLOAT

More and more homebuyers in Swansea are having trouble keeping up with their mortgages. The number being threatened with repossession after failing to keep up with repayments has almost doubled in the last year, it emerged today.

Shock new figures have revealed that repossession orders are being made against people in the city every two days.

There were 172 orders made in the three months to September, against just 98 for the same period last year.

Full article:

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/displayN...e=sidebarsearch

[The Masked Tulip]

I did some EA browsing today in a suburb of Swansea.

Spoke to one EA and he admitted that prices were going to fall - actually used "bubble" and "crashing" in the same sentence about local HPs. At which point I gave him the HPC speel.

I spoke to another who told me their agency no longer advertised in the local property paper as it was no longer cost effective due to the absence of buyers.

Went into a third and after 20 minutes or so I managed to get one of them to say "Alright" which I took as a gesture of greeting to which I replied "Good morning" - I thought the local branch of this particular EAs was rude but it seems that most of their branches are the same.

I was going to give them a lesson in manners and how to greet customers when a middle-aged woman walked in proclaiming "Do you have any smallholdings. I must buy a smallholding. My brother, sister and I want one with out houses. We all going to buy it together."... causing the the pound signs to light up in the EA's eyes.

I went into several others and at no point did anyone say "Good morning" to me or acknowledge my existence. Appalling attitude. Oh almost forgot...

The last one I went into had all the phones going off - 3 or 4 of them. There was one EA in the 'shop' and he told me to ignore them as they had set up the phones to constantly ring - make of that what you will.

[The Masked Tulip]

People hoping to make a profit from luxury apartments in Swansea's new SA1 development have been forced to cut the prices of their properties, it emerged today. A number have come down in price after owners became over-optimistic about the value of the homes, a city estate agent claimed.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/displayN...e=sidebarsearch

And:

HOMELESS SOARS BY 32% IN SWANSEA

Homelessness in Swansea is rocketing, shock new figures have revealed. Findings show that the number of homeless applications flooding into Swansea Council has spiralled by 32 per cent in the past year.

Spiralling house prices and the impact of affordability for first-time buyers are thought to be behind the massive jump.

An increase in the number of housing repossessions is also having an effect.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/displayN...e=sidebarsearch

[Essex57]

It will be interesting, but I don't know how much will show up in the forthcoming report - my money would be on some shocks in Q1 2006.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I have found my rather limited monitoring of the land reg figures puzzling. I keep an eye on the sales for the street opposite where I work (Carmarthen direction). It's typical BTL territory with a terraced advertising for ~95K, with one or two dearer properties at either end. At one point earlier this year there were 12 for sale signs in the road (from four different agents), but from around April onwards quite a few Sold SSTC signs have appeared. I would estimate the turnover to be ~10 since April if the signs are to be believed. What I find most interesting is that the only two properties that have appeared in the Land Registry data are listed at £140,000 and £110,000. I can accept that some of the data is delayed, and that some of the estate agents may be advertising sales that fall through, but it seems odd that in a street where the average advertised price seems to be around £95,000, the next set of Land Reg figures are likely to have an average of £125K.

Yes, the same in Essex. We have identical results. Must mean that 'sales' are simply people re-mortgaging their houses. making nonsense of the Land Reg figures.