Commentary for February 2009
Since January the main topic of property price conversation seems to be: “are buyers coming back?” or “have property prices bottomed out?”. As ever neither of these questions are really that useful, or actually possible to answer.
So what is happening to property prices? It’s all about supply and demand. 2008 saw an unprecedented fall in property prices, but this wasn’t the major issue as property prices are relative, so the only real losers long term are those trading down or forced to sell.
The real issue for 2008 was firstly the speed of the decline, but secondly the fall in the number of transactions. Indeed, the last time we sold so few homes was back in 1974! (source: Nationwide). READ MORE
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Headline Statistics
Headline Statistics | Statistics | +/- | Source | Month |
Average Prices | £150,510 to £216,163 | -9% to
-17% | Various | Jan/Feb |
Transactions* | 41,014* | -59% | Land Registry | August to November Average |
Time to Sell | 12 Weeks | N/C | Hometrack | December/January |
| Number of viewings to sale | 13 | N/C | Hometrack | February |
Offer to Market Price | 88.3% | N/C | Hometrack | February |
Number buyers registered** | 242** | +21% | NAEA | January |
* Per month
**Per agent
Sold versus For Sale Sign Boards*
| Month | Percentage Sold |
| December | 16% |
| January | 12% |
| February | 17% |
| March (to date) | 19.5% |
*Data provided by FSSA, for more information on this data, Contact us
Links to useful Buying and Selling Reports
Price Indices
There are at least seven property indices and other companies that comment on the property market, please checkout the links below:-
Rightmove Halifax Nationwide RICS
Communities Financial Times Land Registry
Other useful resources
Hometrack NAEA RICS Savills Knight Frank
For more market commentary on a national or local level:-
Contact Kate Faulkner on 07974 750562 or 0845 838 1763. To read more about Kate, please visit ABOUT US, see Kate on video and for media appearances, contact:
Sylvia Tidy-Harris
STH Management
Tel +44 (0) 1530 263221
Mob +44 (0) 7970 646872
Fax: +44 (0) 1530 264018
