Countrywide and Foxtons shares at all time low.

hpifever

Bloody hell they have dropped so far!!

What’s happening!

GreatApe

Sector needs to shrink

More impressive is rightmove, with a market cap approaching £5 billion it was only worth £250 million a decade ago.

westernpromise

There are too many estate agencies, essentially, and especially in London, where nobody moves house any more because of stamp duty.

michaels

ilovehouses wrote: »

I'm looking at a move to a different part of the country. Similar house. Similar price.

£5k tax! What's that about?

The days of moving house for a change of scene are gone. If you don't need to move you stay put.

You can buy a house for 5k tax?! We would have bought next door but for a 50k+ tax bill. I guess it demonstrates (again) that when demand falls it is volumes not prices that takes the hit.

Herzlos

I think he means estate agent fees, not stamp duty.

westernpromise

Stamp duty is CGT disguised as a transaction tax. There is no possible other reason to charge 18% on second homes above £2 million.

What is farcical is that it is levied regardless of any gain (which would be inflation in any case, not profit). If you sell a £1 million house in Highgate to move to a £1 million house in Barnet, to obtain basically double the space, you're charged the best part of £40k. There is no fund of free money to tap up, in the form of "gain", because you're using all of the so called gain to buy another property of identical value.

lisyloo

westernpromise wrote: »

There are too many estate agencies, essentially, and especially in London, where nobody moves house any more because of stamp duty.

True, but it's also because of on-line companies (like purple bricks) operating for less and putting the traditional high-st agents out of business.

westernpromise

I am baffled by the appeal of outfits like Purple Bricks. They have no idea about current values and as far as I can tell they leave you to do all the legwork of arranging and conducting your own viewings. I struggle to see what they do for the money. Their service feels like it is worth £5 to £10 at most.

Thrugelmir

hpifever wrote: »

What’s happening!

Reduced activity. Lower income. Fixed costs of branch network to cover.

Herzlos

I thought the super wealthy dodged stamp duty by having a holding company own the property and well If the holding company. Thus the house doesn't officially change ownership?

I can't say I have a huge amount of sympathy for a £40,000 on a £1,000,000 transaction; does it put that many people off? It's not as if everyone is trading between million quid houses when the average price is, what, 250k?
My only objection is that the super rich avoid it anyway.

I'm sure there's a fairer option though.

jonnygee2

I am baffled by the appeal of outfits like Purple Bricks. They have no idea about current values and as far as I can tell they leave you to do all the legwork of arranging and conducting your own viewings. I struggle to see what they do for the money. Their service feels like it is worth £5 to £10 at most.

They do the photography and listing, and then put your house on Rightmove and Zoopla.

When I was buying a house, not one of the 10 or so agents I spoke to had the faintest clue how to sell. They knew nothing about the properties they showed me round - not even what was on their own flyer/website, and often they even struggled just to arrange a viewing at the right time and access a property. None of them even seemed to know the 101 of selling, not even qualifying us as a lead before showing us around.

When we sell our place, I am using Purplebricks and doing my own viewings, I'm certain I'll get a better price at the same time as paying a huge amount less.