February House Sales Double

twadge_face

Blacklight wrote: »

Perhaps it's the Gen Y with their need to buy a 50" TV as their first TV set and who will settle for nothing less than the £250k three bed semi first home that's led to this thinking.

Hehe. Gen Y expectations led to this thinking?

Or perhaps the so-called Generation Y folk who were led into this way of thinking by way of the deliberate insititutionalising of debt-acceptability, in which the governments and banks were (are) complicit.

I'm not disregarding personal responsibility, btw. We all have a responsibility for our finances, but even our own "prudent" unelected first minister has thrown his fiscal rules out of the window with hardly any plan to sort out the affairs of the nation.

I personally think it's pretty sad that the mentality of the country has become quite so materialistic... and worse still quite so gleeful when they benefit at another's disadvantage, ESPECIALLY over such an living essential as accommodation.

I'm no liberal leftie but the current situation is woefully divisive at both the societal AND economic level. Very damaging indeed.

abaxas

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

You poor deluded person.

Actually reading the article is always a good way to avoid humiliation.....;)

The number of "Sold" signs is up by 136%...... The number of "For Sale" signs is only up by 90%.

Demand is rising faster than supply. Which invalidates the entire premise of your post.:rotfl:

I've never seen a 'sold' sign in my life.

Seen plenty of 'sold *'

* subject to contract.

When_is_the_reset?

!!!!!!_face wrote: »

Oh yeah. Missed that. Life goes on.

I don't think anyone on here needs me to tell them that Sold Boards do not equal money in the bank.

A house near me has had one for about 10 months and they still have not moved.

Property Bee keeps saying: -

'status changed from STC to available'

Mr.Brown_4

This is great news, although there is a slight dampener. Apparently the number of No Entry signs is up by 45% YOY, which means prospective purchasers are finding it more difficult to get to that must have pwoperty.

carolt

Rinoa wrote: »

....according to Agency Express.

Agency Express errect 'For Sale' and 'Sold' signs for 18 of the countrys largest estate agents.

Here's their report for February.

http://www.propertyactivityindex.co.uk/s78a1n26p1/February-house-sales-more-than-double-January-figures.html

You do scrape the bottom of every barrel, Rinoa.

I've never (a) heard of 'Agency Express' before, or (b) heard them quoted as a reliable source for house price movements before. (And believe me, on this board, any half-way decent source is rehashed a dozen times. So I find that mighty suspicious.) Plus I suspect (c) that a company that makes its living out of selling houses is not likely to be the most unbiased source of information for whether or not houses are selling.

Nice try.

Post that figure of a doubling in sales again when we have some real proof off Land Registry etc.

googler

Generali wrote: »

I make that listings up 30% since November FWIW.

I copied the figures straight off Agency Express's website, FWIW ....

Rinoa

carolt wrote: »

You do scrape the bottom of every barrel, Rinoa.

I've never (a) heard of 'Agency Express' before, or (b) heard them quoted as a reliable source for house price movements before. (And believe me, on this board, any half-way decent source is rehashed a dozen times. So I find that mighty suspicious.) Plus I suspect (c) that a company that makes its living out of selling houses is not likely to be the most unbiased source of information for whether or not houses are selling.

Nice try.

Post that figure of a doubling in sales again when we have some real proof off Land Registry etc.

twadge_face

carolt wrote:

I've never heard of 'Agency Express' before

That's because they appear to be a honky franchise business.

http://www.thefranchisemagazine.net/franchise/agency-express/business-is-ready-waiting/72

carolt wrote:

Plus I suspect that a company that makes its living out of selling houses is not likely to be the most unbiased source of information for whether or not houses are selling.

Completely agree.

Furthermore, as far I as I can see they're interested in volume of sales and not the prices for which they sell.

Oh, hang on, here's some evidence in my favour:

The_Franchise_Magazine,_in_an_article_about_Agency_Express wrote:

Inevitably, potential Agency Express franchisees will wonder how fluctuations in the housing market will affect the profitability of their business.

In fact, a deflated market can be a real boon to the board business, as Stephen explains: 'When the marketplace is very buoyant, there may be as much as twice the amount of property coming onto the market. It's much easier to turnover and many people will either sell privately or won't bother with a 'For Sale' board in their garden. In a depressed market, however, virtually everything that is up for sale is both with an agent and has a board. People are also more likely to change agent after a few weeks which means our franchisees could make another sale.

See? Falling house prices can and do benefit the economy.

If I were a Agency Express franchisee I'd be chomping at the bit for increased volume and velocity of sales.

I'd say that the "vested interest" quotation from the OP backfired. Nice.