Housing Market
News covering issues affecting the UK residential property market, house prices, interest rates and buying and selling trends.
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Agents increasingly turning to high property valuations to win instructions
Evidence of sales agents aggressively over-valuing properties to gain instructions has emerged following research by proptech firm Agent Software, which has blamed the trend on “tricky market conditions”. Some 1,000 or more agents use its Spectre tool to generate instructions and the company says it has received increasing number of them reporting aggressive over-valuations by competitors. “The vast majority of agents value properties correctly and offer fantastic customer service, but it’s those who don’t that cause problems for the industry as a whole,” says Heather Staff (left) from Agent Software and one of the co-creators of Spectre. “We work with thousands of agents across the country and the feedback we’re consistently getting is that in a competitive and challenging market, some agents are overvaluing in order to get the instruction from the vendor.” The company says it is picking up the increased over-valuation because its Spectre tool is designed to help agents spot properties that have been over-valued and then target their vendors for the ‘second instruction’ when the first agent fails and they come out of contract. Agent Software claims that over valuations mean some properties languish on the market for longer and leave vendors in a weaker position…
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More rogue landlords are hardened criminals not old-fashioned chancers, says leading expert
A high profile tenancy relations officer says new breed of rogue landlord who seek systematic and organised cash cultivation.
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Hybrid estate agents will take longer to grab significant share than previously thought
Emoov ceo russell quirk has admitted its going to take hybrids much longer to grab the promised 30-35% share of the sales market he predicted.
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Will today’s 0.25% base interest rate hike slow the property market even more?
Read property industry reaction to today's Bank of England base rate interest hike from 0.5% to 0.75%, the most recent hike since october last year.
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London rental property pipeline drops by 3.5% as landlords exit
Government policies, additional tax burdens and stagnating London prices are persuading landlords to sell up and buy fewer properties.
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62% of London Airbnb listings are now from ‘multi-listers’
Landlords are increasingly switching from traditional long-term lettings to Airbnb and using specialist management companies to manage their bookings, research from Colliers International suggests.
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Property sales down by nearly 30% in London, claims Land Registry
Although prices are holding steady, property sales across the UK have dropped alarmingly over the past year, particularly in London, says the Land Registry.
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So has the fees ban all been a mistake? Most tenants happy with their home
A tenant satisfaction survey report show a large majority of private sector tenants, 84 per cent, are satisfied with their housing according to the newly published report for 2016/17.
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£1.6billion lost from UK house prices, says home.co.uk
Latest property price figures reveal stock rising, prices falling, according to Home.co.uk.
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UK housing market is “uninspiring” says RICS
RICS UK housing market report shows that new buyer enquiries are in decline as new instructions rise.
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