Drop in property prices leads to increased sales
December 22, 2008
According to recent reports there has been a drop in the amount that many homeowners are asking for their properties, and this has led to an increase in property sales. With property sales having slumped to an average of less than one sale per week per estate agent, the increase in sales is much needed. Officials have said that sellers are now becoming more realistic with regards to their asking prices, and this has helped to boost sales in what has become a very challenging housing market.
A report from the National Association of Estate Agents showed that whilst the rise in property sales was small, there was still a rise, and this was from 6 percent to 7 percent for the month of October. However, this compared to particularly weak sales levels in September, and was down by 44 percent compared to October of last year. Apparently sellers are now starting to accept that they have to decrease their expectations relating to how much they will get for their property.
One NAEA official said: : ‘Sellers are beginning to face up to the reality that their houses are not worth as much now as they were 12 months ago. They are ripping up last year’s price tags and beginning to come to terms with the new economic reality. That is a difficult thing to do - but the silver lining is that the market is now more transparent for buyers. Prices are becoming realistic, and we hope that this provides the boost needed to encourage those families who so desperately want to buy houses to get onto the market.’
Another official said: : ‘Few people will take heart from the fact the latest lending figures are marginally up on September, as they are still massively lower than October last year. You have a double whammy where consumer confidence is shot to bits by a rapidly weakening economy and the mainstream lenders are only accepting ‘quality’ applicants with big deposits. I hate to say it but it could be some time before things start to improve.’
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