Estate agents hopeful over 2013 house sales (From York Press)
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Estate agents hopeful over 2013 house sales
8:19am Saturday 12th January 2013 in News
By Kate Liptrot, kate.liptrot@thepress.co.uk
Ben Hudson
ESTATE agents in York and North Yorkshire have reported a very promising start to 2013 and predicted a steady year in the housing market.
Stephensons, which has offices in York, Boroughbridge, Selby and Easingwold, last weekend reported its busiest Saturday in York since 2007, with two offers and a sale in the first 20 minutes of opening.
Experts have said business in the area is expected to remain steady with house prices static or rising slightly in York as buyer confidence begins to rise. Nick Kay, a partner at Stephensons, said: “The outlook for the first ten days of this year has been very positive indeed in terms of how the market seems to have come back to life.
“December was a very slow time and we always look to see how January will start to get an idea of what will happen in the year.
“We have had a huge number of viewings and have received offers in all areas of the market.
“In terms of how the year will pan out, I think prices will be fairly static although there may be small increases in the market in York.”
Peter Docwra, partner at Ashtons, said the letting side of the business “has never been better” with people feeling less urgency to buy.
On the sales market, he said: “It will probably be similar to last year but a bit better. It looks good so far. We have got very good predictions for the year, probably five per cent above last year in terms of prices.”
Ben Hudson, managing partner of Hudson Moody, said: “I don’t think it will go back to boom times and I rather hope it doesn’t. I want a steady year in terms of confidence.
“The fact is, we are in a very stable area and York keeps being quoted as one of the best areas in the country for buyers.
“We are short of houses as we have not been building houses in any great numbers.
“That is going to push up prices. We’re expecting a relatively good year.”
Kevin Hollinrake, managing director of Hunters, said the 2013 outlook was “a little more promising”.
“First-time buyers can once again borrow over 90 per cent of the purchase price of a home and rates for this are below four per cent for the first time since 2008,” Mr Hollinrake said.
Comments(15)
the commentator
says...
11:48am Sat 12 Jan 13
There are still 4 bedroom detached houses marketed near me for £275000 when in reality you will be extremely lucky to sell at £250000 and lenders are valuing more at the £240000 mark!
bob the builder
says...
12:01pm Sat 12 Jan 13
the commentator wrote:Valuations are based on land prices, rebuilding costs etc but the valuer is often paid by a bank. Estate agents live in large houses, drive expensive cars, and are employed by sellers owing money to aforesaid banks. This is why the banks had to be bailed out, they can't do maths.
its a shame that the lenders valuations for mortgage purposes are wildly lower than the prices estate agents are marketing properties at, which is what I believe is a big contributor to the stagnant market.
There are still 4 bedroom detached houses marketed near me for £275000 when in reality you will be extremely lucky to sell at £250000 and lenders are valuing more at the £240000 mark!
Trespar Zagenstuz
says...
12:15pm Sat 12 Jan 13
"Valuations are based on land prices, rebuilding costs etc"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~
~~~~~
That might be in part true for newbuild properties, but old houses are only 'worth' what somebody will pay for them. Anybody who says, as someone did to me recently, that "I cannot sell my house because nobody is prepared to pay what it's worth" needs to be told its true value is in the eyes of the purchaser not the vendor; and not be too coerced into believing the slick rhetoric of estate agents, tempting though it might sound.
ReginaldBiscuit
says...
12:38pm Sat 12 Jan 13
bob the builder wrote:A small caveat - Estate Agents are basically truth-manipulating liars. If you want to find out how they operate, get yourself a copy of Freakonomics by Dubner & Levitt. It's a great book and has an interesting chapter exposing them and their practices in detail.
the commentator wrote:Valuations are based on land prices, rebuilding costs etc but the valuer is often paid by a bank. Estate agents live in large houses, drive expensive cars, and are employed by sellers owing money to aforesaid banks. This is why the banks had to be bailed out, they can't do maths.
its a shame that the lenders valuations for mortgage purposes are wildly lower than the prices estate agents are marketing properties at, which is what I believe is a big contributor to the stagnant market.
There are still 4 bedroom detached houses marketed near me for £275000 when in reality you will be extremely lucky to sell at £250000 and lenders are valuing more at the £240000 mark!
As far as what this chap is saying, it isn't rocket science. January is 12 days old, Christmas will have meant fewer house sales hence you have more activity when the festive period is over.
It absolutely amazes me (it still amazes me) that the housing sector is seen as a cornerstone of the general economy that all political parties vow to protect and vest interest in. The measure of any economy is what it can make and export, what it has in terms of resources, what it doesn't rely on in imports. You can't export houses so why on earth is housing seen as being so valuable? The answer is that it isn't. Sadly, much like other areas of the economy, housing is over-hyped and over-valued. The retail bubble has burst, the football bubble will burst and ominously, the financial bubble that is City London is downsizing and shedding large quantities of staff. David of Cameron was desperate to portray the UK as the nation of can do, a big-player still on the world stage, a safe place to invest your money (and burn horrendous amounts of it judging by the London-centric fireworks bonanza on New Years Eve). The ratings agencies beg to differ as do the global banks. The UK will lose it's AAA rating this year. Actually, quite how it's managed to hold it for this long is puzzling given that the US lost theirs a while back as did France. The loss of AAA will make things very wobbly indeed (there's no guarantee that it will be one notch either, the overvalued FTSE is going to take a right shoeing). Higher borrowing costs for the government will force Westminster to impose severe cuts. That will make things interesting and will hardly benefit house prices.
Anyway, back to this story. The smart money is on a gradual decrease in house prices over the next 10 years and a gradual increase in repossessions. You don't have to look very far on the internet to find credible information backing this up. This guy like other estate agents and papers like the Mail/Express, is just shooting his mouth off in the vain hope that positive news will revive the housing boom. It won't. The era of hyped up house prices is well and truly over.
hendom
says...
1:18pm Sat 12 Jan 13
This inflates house prices and the real losers are pensioners who have saved all their lives in the hope of living from the interest on their savings and first time buyers who cannot afford starter properties at 7 or 8 times their income so have to fork out to landlords charging ridiculously high rents.
Mulgrave
says...
1:40pm Sat 12 Jan 13
If you take the cost of getting a typical house re-wired, or re-roofed as an indication of market costs for construction labour and materials, and factor in the cost of the finite ingredient, land, in a market with increasing demand and limited supply, I think it is difficult to say a typical York property is overvalued.
If we had the same subsidies for housing as in the past, then taxation would be higher than currently, however there is currently a much greater tendency to spend this 'saving' on leisure, electronic gadgets, nice cars etc, and this then makes housing seem more expensive than for previous generations.
R'Marcus
says...
4:30pm Sat 12 Jan 13
It is a lot of baloney.
pedalling paul
says...
4:49pm Sat 12 Jan 13
Trespar Zagenstuz
says...
5:21pm Sat 12 Jan 13
I used to sell shoes. It was much the same.
MouseHouse
says...
7:21pm Sat 12 Jan 13
baldiebiker
says...
12:46am Sun 13 Jan 13
On second thoughts I don't think I like estate agents.
Priapus
says...
1:36pm Sun 13 Jan 13
hendom wrote:What twaddle. For a start off the Bank of England sets the 'base rate' not the Government. Secondly, who but an utter idiot - like you - would raise mortgage rates at a time like this? How would further reducing people's spending and pushing hundreds of thousands of people into mortgage arrears help the economy?
Excellent post Reginald. The government, (as did the previous lot), are still holding interest rates at an artificially low rate so that house repossessions are at a minimum, thus protecting their rich banker friends.
This inflates house prices and the real losers are pensioners who have saved all their lives in the hope of living from the interest on their savings and first time buyers who cannot afford starter properties at 7 or 8 times their income so have to fork out to landlords charging ridiculously high rents.
nearlyman
says...
2:40pm Sun 13 Jan 13
pedalling paul wrote:Brilliant ! your best post in months ! ( was there a bike chained up outside ?)
I once saw a model railway which sported a miniature estage agent's advertising sign. The firm was called Alcock and Bull......!
capt spaulding
says...
3:54pm Sun 13 Jan 13
Eric Outhwaite was an interesting fellow by comparison on his pet subject , the Spear and Jackson No 4 Shovel.
Trespar Zagenstuz says...
11:13am Sat 12 Jan 13