Top stories of the week
Property market news regularly draws the most interest. And so it was this week, but with the top report attracting an unprecedented surge of readers. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) warned house prices are now falling faster than during the darkest days of the early Nineties crash.
With a dizzying array of house price surveys and indices, why does the RICS report cause such concern? Firstly, the study is based on recent feedback from estate agents as opposed to asking prices or agreed sales, so economists regard it as a reliable early indicator. Secondly, it was first to show up the early Nineties slump.
However, it seems estate agents are helping talk themselves out of a job: a warning that a third of Britain's estate agents could be forced to close this year made second most popular report of the week. Interest, you would imagine, was driven by self-interest and schadenfreude rather than heartfelt concern.
Most popular new reports in the past seven days...
(Have your say on each report or post your comments below on this blog - email only required for verification and URL not required)
1. House prices 'falling faster than 90s crash'
2. Fear of closure for 4,000 estate agents
3. Has your savings rate fallen?
4. Boost your pension pot by up to 63%
5. Soaring euro puts £200 on summer holidays
6. £50bn package to stave off recession
7. Lenders raise rates despite cut by the Bank
8. Borrowers face rate blow as inflation rises
9. Newspaper and magazine share tips
10. Banks battered on B&B cash-call fears
Dear Andrew,
I refer to your short article in the 'Mail on Sunday' (20.4.08) and have to say that I am sick and tired of the public moaning about the immoral and unethical conduct of estate agents and that the public now are taking pleasure in the knowledge that estate agents are now
suffering because of the housing market decline.
I have been an agent for 22 years and believe you me it is not so lucrative as people think. The idiotic public seem to think that all agents are undeservingly rich arrogant morons who earn a living immorally. Yes, I don't dispute it that there are such individuals but in the main we are decent honest law abiding people who are trying to
make a living. We work long hours and have to take a lot of flak to make things happen for our clients (vendors)
The fact is if agents had to be qualified and chartered who would see a complete change in the industry which would weed out the villains and crooks associated with this business. Any one can open up tomorrow and
trade as an agent and that is where it is all going wrong. The Government are to blame 100%. If estate agency was regulated properly and controlled by a proper institute like other professions who would not have the problems we have today.
Alas, until there is a Government who truly have the public's best interests at heart and want to protect them we will always be associated with villainy and getting paid for nothing.
Kind regards,
Ivan Ziff
Posted by: Ivan Ziff | April 22, 2008 at 09:59 AM