Brickonomics

Home sales perk up in March

Another little ray of good news for estate agents and house builders came from the latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs for property transactions. They do provide a hint of a glimmer of hope that the housing market may...

Posted by Brian on April 22, 2009 4:58 PM

More buyers sniffing around for bargain buys in the housing market, says RICS

More green shoots appear to be sprouting in the housing market with the surveyors' body RICS finding an increase in interest among potential homebuyers over the past three months. Sensibly RICS economists are not getting over excited by this, after...

Posted by Brian on February 17, 2009 1:58 AM

Hard cash or car crash - what's driving visitors to Rightmove?

A press release from the property website Rightmove that dropped into my inbox this morning caught my eye. Of course it was promoting its wares - that's fair enough. But what I found interesting was the interpretation Rightmove has put...

Posted by Brian on January 8, 2009 10:13 AM

If 2008 was bad for the housing market, 2009 looks much worse

There are plenty of scary figures in the latest forecast from the Council of Mortgage Lenders not least the expectation that half a million homeowners will fall into arrears. The expectation that 75,000 homes will be repossessed by mortgage lenders...

Posted by Brian on December 18, 2008 5:52 PM

No Christmas present for estate agents or the economy in RICS figures

Two bits of good news for house sellers and builders in the latest housing market survey by the surveyors' body RICS. The graph showing the proportion of surveyors reporting prices falls appears to have bottomed out. And the graph showing...

Posted by Brian on December 9, 2008 9:44 AM

A hint of comfort in the icy housing market

If you take an optimistic view of life you may find some comfort in the latest housing market survey from the surveyors' body RICS. For pessimists there remains plenty of scope for concern....

Posted by Brian on October 14, 2008 8:51 AM

Down again and more house price falls to follow

Another month, another fall in the Halifax house price index. And we can expect that to continue for some while yet, despite the cash transfusion pumped into the financial system and the monetary defibrillation provided by a concert of central...

Posted by Brian on October 9, 2008 9:53 AM

South West housing deals hit hardest as market slowed

If the health of the housing market is a function of turnover and price growth then the amount of stamp duty taken from residential sales should provide a fairly good means of diagnosis. In rough and ready terms. So it...

Posted by Brian on September 30, 2008 10:39 AM

Plunging house sales create major tax headache for Darling

If I were the Chancellor looking at the latest property transaction figures I wouldn't be worried, I'd be very worried. At 270,000 transactions for residential property in the second quarter, we are looking at a housing market about 38% less...

Posted by Brian on July 22, 2008 2:24 PM