House sales 'continuing to fall'

[BrilloPad]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7825418.stm

Property sales fell even further in December, according to the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

The number of sales per estate agency fell during the three months to December to 10.1, down from the 10.6 sales per agency reported a month ago.

Rics said this was again the lowest level since its survey started in 1978.

But enquiries from new buyers rose for the second month in a row, driven by lower interest rates and cheaper homes.

However, the group warned that the lack of mortgage availability meant the number of sales would stay depressed.

First-time buyers and owner-occupiers are now stuck in a market which does not fulfil their aspirations

Ian Perry
Rics

Mortgage lenders are continuing to demand larger deposits as they ration home loans to their customers.

At the same time some would-be buyers are reluctant to step into the market, when house prices have fallen by about 15% in the past year, with some observers forecasting similar drops in 2009.

Guarantee call

"Buyer interest is now at levels not seen since 2006 but without mortgage finance the housing market is at a standstill and transaction levels at an all-time low," said Rics spokesperson Ian Perry.

"First-time buyers and owner-occupiers are now stuck in a market which does not fulfil their aspirations."

The group has repeated calls for the government to help end the mortgage drought by adopting recommendations made by Sir James Crosby that it provides a guarantee for billions of pounds of lending.

Some of Britain's top bankers met at the prime minister's country residence Chequers at the weekend, with the mortgage issue high on the agenda.

"Without this help there is a real danger that homebuyers will be frozen out of the market, transaction levels and prices will fall to new lows, repossessions will increase and negative equity will become commonplace," Mr Perry said.

"Together this has the potential to push the country deeper into recession."

Unsold property

Rics found that the number of members reporting sliding prices had eased a little, with 73.5% more of its members seeing prices fall locally than rise - the lowest level since February.

However confidence in house prices in the months ahead fell to its worst level since April 2008, with nine out of 10 Rics members in England and Wales reporting a fall in price expectations.

Large supplies of unsold properties and the number of buyers able to get access to financing were the main depressing factors, the group said.

Estate agents in London were having the hardest time, selling an average of only seven properties in the three months to the end of December, while agents in the South East and South West were averaging nine sales.

Estate agents in the East Midlands reported the strongest showing, selling an average of 15 homes in the last three months of 2008.

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"First-time buyers and owner-occupiers are now stuck in a market which does not fulfil their aspirations"

So market is supposed to rise forever? Isn't a house a place to live in?

What a muppet.

[dang65]

My in-laws put their house on the market last week and accepted an offer the next day for five grand under the asking price. But they've always been completely jammy with property so they should be automatically excluded from any statistics.

[AlfredJPruffock]

There is no logical impossibility in the supposition that the whole of life is a dream, in which we ourselves create all the objects that come before us.

But although this is not logically impossible, there is no reason whatever to suppose that it is true; and it is, in fact, a less simple hypothesis, viewed as a means of accounting for the facts of our own life, than the common-sense hypothesis that there really are objects independent of us, whose action on us causes our sensations."


Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy

[AlfredJPruffock]

Shows wot he knew... it's not a dream, it's a nightmare.

I'm hoping to wake up soon.

Aye Z

The strange thing is that Ive had a series of lucid dreams over the past six months and every one of them have came true in the most unusual ways at times - I have a witness to whom I reveal my dreams who can then ascertain as to the truth of the dream.

What to do ?

Anybody else had similar experiences ?

[TimberWolf]

Aye Z

The strange thing is that Ive had a series of lucid dreams over the past six months and every one of them have came true in the most unusual ways at times - I have a witness to whom I reveal my dreams who can then ascertain as to the truth of the dream.

What to do ?

Test it by revealing one here. It will be either be vague, a high probability event or no more likely to come true than by chance.

Anybody else had similar experiences ?

Sometimes when I'm reading a book and listening to the TV at the same time, I read a word at the precise moment that it's spoken on the TV. Of course I ignore all the zillions of times when that doesn't happen.

[DiscoStu]

If only we'd all bought property in CyberToryShire we wouldn't have to worry

[AlfredJPruffock]

Test it by revealing one here. It will be either be vague, a high probability event or no more likely to come true than by chance.



Sometimes when I'm reading a book and listening to the TV at the same time, I read a word at the precise moment that it's spoken on the TV. Of course I ignore all the zillions of times when that doesn't happen.

The ones that relate to my private life cannot be tested here - but here is one which can be tested - I did dream in November that Obama was killed as I was reading his obituary in a newspaper.

When I tired to read the details the lines in the newspaper would blur- however I did recall that the Number 42 was important - either he died after his 42 week or month in office - or he passed away in the 42 state ?

Also it was unclear as to the manner of his death.

Time will tell.

[BrilloPad]

The ones that relate to my private life cannot be tested here - but here is one which can be tested - I did dream in November that Obama was killed as I was reading his obituary in a newspaper.

When I tired to read the details the lines in the newspaper would blur- however I did recall that the Number 42 was important - either he died after his 42 week or month in office - or he passed away in the 42 state ?

Also it was unclear as to the manner of his death.

Time will tell.

A president is either assignated(or attempt made) every 20 years or so. It should have been Bush. So good chance of your prediction coming true.

[AlfredJPruffock]

A president is either assignated(or attempt made) every 20 years or so. It should have been Bush. So good chance of your prediction coming true.

I didnt say Obama was assassinated - in fact I recall reading about one US President who caught Pneumonia on his inaugration day then died a few weeks later.