Estate agents today told of the terrifying roller coaster ride they are being given by the region’s housing market as a shock report claimed that some were selling fewer than one property a week as prices continue to tumble.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its members sold an average of 11.5 homes during the three months to the end of September – the lowest level since its survey first began in 1978. Estate agents in the West Midlands and Staffordshire today reported mixed fortunes, although all report a sharp decline.
Martin Pain, director of Bromleys Estate Agents in Market Street, Hednesford, said: “We are not selling one a week at the moment. We have an awful lot of repossessions, which are undercutting the rest of the properties for sale. Things have got to pick up, otherwise we will all go out of business.”
But Nick Berriman partner of Berriman Eaton, which has branches in Tettenhall, Wombourne and Bridgnorth, said: “There is no month this year that any of our offices have only agreed four sales.
“Business was slower in June and September but even then we were two or three times that level.
“Having said that, this has been the hardest year for many years, and we had to close our recently opened office in Shifnal.”
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors also reported today that the number of surveyors reporting house price falls during September increased for the first time since April.
Overall, 84.2 per cent more chartered surveyors reported seeing further price slides during the month compared to those who saw price rises, compared with 81.8 per cent more who reported falls in August.
8 Comments
Two things about this survey/story.
Records were not widely keep or reported on in 1978 by Surveyors/estate Agents. Or even through the 80’s, so the claim to 30 years of records is ‘poetic’ at best.
Many Surveyors which also have agencies attached are generally not ‘high volume’ agents, and even in a reasonable market are unlikely to be completing much more than 4 sales a month. In fact I estimate some rarely exceed that number!
So overall this report is bogus……
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Having been charged a fortune by estate agents in the past for very little work, I have no sympathy with their agony.
They happily made money in the boom times - and they’ll make money again in the future. Just at the moment only someone desperate or a fool would buy. Each month knocks thousands off the price - waiting a while makes sense.
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Halifax Estate Agents in Walsall has closed down
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So much sympathy is given to the Estate Agents. Does any body for on moment consider the effect that this also has on Solicitors. I have recently been made redundant from a Solicitors office having been a Conveyancing Secretary for 21 years!
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Crocodile tears from me.
Never shouted it from the rooftops when the self induced boom period was here. Why do they moan now? Live off the fat you conned in the past.
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i am glad i got out that industry when i did, estate agents are fools if they think they can survive another 12 months, its all down hhill from now on so dont renew the lease on those bmw’s.
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It was the estate agents who inflated the price of houses and made a lot of money doing it. They are part of the reason for the crisis we are in.
I have no sympathy.
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All i can say is what a shame they have ripped people of for years and are now getting all they deserve . sell your own house its easy i know lots of people who have done it
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