High Pinay

According to a recent report house sales in the UK have plummeted to their lowest level since records began in 1978, with a number of factors contributing to the worse house sale figures on record. The estate agency industry is suffering hugely as a result of these falling house sales, and many have predicted that a number of estate agencies will end up going bust due to the extremely poor level of sales.

One estate agent summed up the situation by stating that he had ‘no credit, no confidence, no customers’. The recent report, which was released by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, showed that the picture looked gloomier than ever, and could get worse. RICS started monitoring house prices three decades ago, and officials state that house prices are experiencing the most widespread falls since they started keeping these records.

Officials have also said that this picture is even worse than the dark days of the 1990s house price crash. Around 82% of estate agents that were polled in April said that house prices had fallen. Estate agents sold an average of 18.3 properties each between February and April, with one agent stating that sales figures were down 60% compared to last year. The average sales figure is the lowest on record.

The number of people registering an interest in purchasing property has been falling for the last two year, but one of the major factors that has been attributed to falling sales is the tighter mortgage lending conditions that have stemmed from the global credit crunch. Another factor is that predicted house price falls over the next two year are putting would be buyers off from making a commitment until they see what happens with house prices.