Unsold Properties Up, Asking Prices Up...

[Pytyr]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle3607483.ece

Some quotes:

"Miles Shipside, the commercial director of Rightmove, said: “In the current market, sellers should price below their competition to achieve more interest now and avoid a larger price-drop later in the year.”"

"The company believes that as banks tighten their lending for mortgages, sellers must accept the new house price values quickly - or risk their home becoming unsellable."

"The unrealistic prices being asked threaten to cripple the market further, just as lenders are being reported as unwilling or unable to lend to scores of apparently creditworthy borrowers."

Chickens, home, roost.

[dances with sheeple]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle3607483.ece

Some quotes:

"Miles Shipside, the commercial director of Rightmove, said: “In the current market, sellers should price below their competition to achieve more interest now and avoid a larger price-drop later in the year.”"

"The company believes that as banks tighten their lending for mortgages, sellers must accept the new house price values quickly - or risk their home becoming unsellable."

"The unrealistic prices being asked threaten to cripple the market further, just as lenders are being reported as unwilling or unable to lend to scores of apparently creditworthy borrowers."

Chickens, home, roost.

Over,Game, F*cked.

[thecrashingisles]

This must be from the report due out tomorrow:

The website's figures also showed that asking prices had risen 0.8 per cent to £239,655 as homeowners try to push up prices.

Sellers need to wake up and smell the coffee.

[Mr Yogi]

Over,Game, F*cked.

Particularly if you're an estate agent.

Stalemate = no sales = no commission = bankruptcy

Unless...

... they can persuade vendors to reduce asking prices.

Expect mass collusion behind the scenes between agents to reduce valuations over the next few months. Estate agents have a vital role to play in the ongoing crash.

[Little Professor]

Asking prices UP 0.8% month on month? What's going on? Do people not read the papers?

[redwing]

The figures in the article are quite conflicting.

QUOTE

Rightmove said that the number of unsold properties was at its highest level for this time of year since it began to publish its survey in 2002. Each estate agent had an average of 67 homes on its books, up from 56 a month earlier, it said.

and then...

QUOTE

Yet the time that houses are on the market is falling - from 93 days to 82 days. Mr Shipside said that sales were being achieved, but at prices well below the peak of the boom.

If time on the market is falling, it's a surprise to see record number of homes on estate agents books.

There must be quite a rush to sell at the moment.

Either that or the figures are simply rubbish.

[#1 on West side]

Asking prices UP 0.8% month on month? What's going on? Do people not read the papers?

People are kidding themselves, hoping to still receive their "fair value" figure. Realising that nobody will buy a property without being given a discount they simply build the discount into the asking price.

Standard sellers mentality in a falling market... usually ends in a "fire sale"

[Pytyr]

"Mr Shipside said that sales were being achieved, but at prices well below the peak of the boom. Last week, the agents Hamptons International and John D Wood suggested that prices in some areas had fallen 10 per cent."

Asking prices and sold prices are now becoming very different. As an earlier poster pointed out, no sales = bankruptcy for EA. They advise sellers to de-value and get real (or price realistically in EA speak).

When retailers price products as "20% off" sales surge, even if the price is not related to the product. There is a lot of pent up demand in this housing market, lots of people believed the hype and still do. The ones buying now couldn't afford it before. It's the classic dead cat bounce.

[BufferBear Bitcoin Bull]

Falls in London were sharpest at top and bottom. Kensington and Chelsea asking prices fell 4.1 per cent. Those in Redbridge fell 4.7 per cent.

But London is different.

[BufferBear Bitcoin Bull]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/mar/2....marketturmoil1

Deluded sellers.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...AM&refer=uk

March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Britons selling their home should ``get smart'' and price their property more realistically before they lose out when home values decline later this year, Rightmove Plc said.

The average asking price climbed 0.8 percent in March to 239,655 pounds ($475,000) and they rose 1.3 percent in London, Britain's most-used property Web site said in a statement today. It said the gap between what owners charge and buyers can afford is widening as consumers find it harder to get a mortgage.

[DoctorJ]

sellers should price below their competition to achieve more interest now and avoid a larger price-drop later in the year

The writing is on the wall.

GAME OVER

[thirdwave]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/mar/2....marketturmoil1

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: "Most sellers seem to be ignoring the increased competition from unsold properties and the challenge buyers now face in obtaining a mortgage. Sellers should price below their competition to achieve more interest now and avoid a larger price drop later in the year."

He said prices tended to overshoot in a boom and readjust over time. "With sellers still launching their properties on to the market at close to peak figures, it is likely we are in the midst of such an overshoot. Whilst sellers are dropping their prices after a few weeks after no interest from buyers, the gap between sellers' initial price and buyers' ability to pay appears, paradoxically, to be widening." He urged sellers to "get smart and accept this new reality" or risk the market seizing up.

paradoxical?? FFS, people simply don`t have the money to pay overinflated prices for the hooses on your friggin website, you idiot!

[MRMX9]

But London is different.

Well Ilford (main town in Redbridge) and Sloane Square are different worlds - London is a big place and what happens in Belgravia is rather different from what happens in Barking or Bromley!

[eastleighfan]

If anyone doubts that the housing market is "slowing" , all they need to do is to look at "rightmove" through "Property bee" , or keep hold of old copies of local property papers . Make a note of how long properties are on the market . Notice how many are advertised as "no forward chain" or "vacant possesion". That will give them an idea of the real world !

[Landagan]

The writing is on the wall.

GAME OVER

Yes, this is the inevitable period of denial. It's all down hill from here.

1% rise in asking prices to a 10% drop in selling prices = lots of estate agents out of business.

So look on the bright side!

[tinecu]

The figures in the article are quite conflicting.

QUOTE

Rightmove said that the number of unsold properties was at its highest level for this time of year since it began to publish its survey in 2002. Each estate agent had an average of 67 homes on its books, up from 56 a month earlier, it said.

and then...

QUOTE

Yet the time that houses are on the market is falling - from 93 days to 82 days. Mr Shipside said that sales were being achieved, but at prices well below the peak of the boom.

If time on the market is falling, it's a surprise to see record number of homes on estate agents books.

There must be quite a rush to sell at the moment.

Either that or the figures are simply rubbish.

This is the same 'panic selling' that Home.co.uk reported earlier. A flood of more expensive houses is surely the last nail in the HPI coffin?

[29929BlackTuesday]

Radio 4 cover this article with glee and interview WHOM??

That's right, to talk about RIGHTMOVE'S SURVEY THEY INTERVIEW THE HEAD OF THE NAEA!!!

Who said "10% drops? no no no noththing like that - 5% at most" When questioned! Really he did!

[ingermany]

It's strange because I've been waiting to buy for a year and, looking at the RM website, property asking prices have fallen if you compare like for like. So that 2006 4BR Det=275K, 2008 4BR Det=225-250K, around 10-15% down since Dec 06 (East Mids). Actual house I viewed in 2006 was on market at 280K (and seemed a reasonable asking price), was still on market in Dec 07 at 225K, and now (Feb 08) withdrawn unsold.

I wonder how RM do their stats? Are they stats or are they just advertising, aimed at propping up confidence and encouraging buyers into the market? The Daily Express will report this as "Housing Market Still Booming". Until the next MPC meeting when it will be "BoE Must Slash Rates to Assist Embattled Homeowners".

[Bloo Loo]

It's strange because I've been waiting to buy for a year and, looking at the RM website, property asking prices have fallen if you compare like for like. So that 2006 4BR Det=275K, 2008 4BR Det=225-250K, around 10-15% down since Dec 06 (East Mids). Actual house I viewed in 2006 was on market at 280K (and seemed a reasonable asking price), was still on market in Dec 07 at 225K, and now (Feb 08) withdrawn unsold.

I wonder how RM do their stats? Are they stats or are they just advertising, aimed at propping up confidence and encouraging buyers into the market? The Daily Express will report this as "Housing Market Still Booming". Until the next MPC meeting when it will be "BoE Must Slash Rates to Assist Embattled Homeowners".

Its people who thought that two hundred and eighty THOUSAND POUNDS was a reasonable asking price, and lenders who thought that lending two hundred THOUSAND POUNDS to a man with kids earning £35K who caused this friggin problem.

If it wasnt wrong then, we wouldnt have the flaming banks in really DIRE trouble now.

I think if people had actually said the price to themselves in long form, rather than a blasais 280K. maybe they would have cottoned on a bit sooner.

[Paddles]

Radio 4 cover this article with glee and interview WHOM??

That's right, to talk about RIGHTMOVE'S SURVEY THEY INTERVIEW THE HEAD OF THE NAEA!!!

Who said "10% drops? no no no noththing like that - 5% at most" When questioned! Really he did!

I heard that interview too, hilarious! Firstly, Humphries dismissed the survey before the journalist started talking about it with the comment "it's asking prices, not necessarily what the house sells for".

And then the Head of NAEA comes on sounding like Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf if he was born Surrey, had a wife called Jemima and played golf with his chums Jeremy and Nigel. "these asking prices are realistic for some areas".....

Best moment of all was when he quoted Mark Twain (but didn't acknowledge the quote; as if an EA ever had an original thought!) and explained that those nasty banks had withdrawn a third of the mortgage products in the last few weeks "lending an umbrella and asking for it back when it rains".

The thing to ask yourself is this; did this idiot first hear this quote from;

a - A conversation in the pub

b - From reading Mark Twain

c - Reading the signature of the contributer on here (sorry, can't remember who it is)

I know where my bet is going......

Edited March 24, 2008 by Paddles

[WSG]

Its people who thought that two hundred and eighty THOUSAND POUNDS was a reasonable asking price, and lenders who thought that lending two hundred THOUSAND POUNDS to a man with kids earning £35K who caused this friggin problem.

If it wasnt wrong then, we wouldnt have the flaming banks in really DIRE trouble now.

I think if people had actually said the price to themselves in long form, rather than a blasais 280K. maybe they would have cottoned on a bit sooner.

spot on pal