Be Realistic, say Estate Agents

Estate agents in Bath have said homeowners must be realistic if they are to survive the squeeze of the global credit crisis.

National figures from building society Nationwide suggested a four per cent year-on-year fall in house prices for the first quarter of 2008 in the city.

This was the second highest fall in the country, behind Durham.

 

Richard Pullin, managing director of estate agent Pullin Knight which has three offices in Bath, said properties were still selling.

But he added that agents were advising sellers to listen seriously to offers and proactively price their properties so they reflected homes' true value.

He said figures on house prices produced by lenders tended to be up to six months out of date.

"Our experience of the local market, however, would echo the trends picked up by the Nationwide - that prices have fallen back and the number of transactions has reduced," he said.

"My message is simple: 'take a step back and don't panic'.

"Properties are still selling but it's all about price.

"It is really important that sellers stay ahead of the game in a market that is adjusting.

"If the price of your favourite breakfast cereal suddenly shot up to three times its original price, you probably wouldn't buy it, opting to buy a cheaper version instead.

"The same applies to the housing market. You have to be realistic and competitive."

Mr Pullin said the majority of current sellers had only ever known a booming housing market and must prepare themselves for the reality that anything more than a two per cent per annum growth was good.

Quintyn Howard-Evans, managing partner of Cooper and Tanner, which has seven branches in Somerset and Wiltshire, said he saw no evidence Bath was faring any worse than other parts of the country.

"I don't think Bath is an isolated case," he said.

"There has been a correction in the market - it's not catastrophic.

"Property values have tripled over the last 10 years and last year there was a seven per cent increase.

"So far this year, they've gone down five per cent. It's just an adjustment in values.

"In the famous words of Corporal Jones from Dad's Army, 'don't panic, Mr Mainwaring'."

He said vendors needed to be realistic about the prices they would get for their homes.

"People need to get on with their lives and stop fretting about whether their house is worth £50 less this week.

"Buy a house because you like it, you want to live there and you can afford it.

"People have got to get out of the mindset that their house is going to go up in value by 10 per cent every year.

"The seller has to accept that their house is worth less than it was last year and the quicker people adjust their prices to reflect that change, the quicker confidence will return to the market."

Nationwide's figures released in April put the city's annual percentage change in house prices down four per cent and the average house price at £237,051.

This was down nine per cent on the last quarter of 2007.

Julian Knops, area manager for Andrews Estate Agents and president of the Bath Auctioneers' and Estate Agents' Society, said the decline in house prices in Bath had started last July but failed to attract publicity because of the holiday season and the collapse of Northern Rock.

Mr Knops said: "In Bath a lot of buy-to-let landlords are asking for higher rents from tenants because their mortgage rates have gone up and the tenants are saying no, let's go looking to buy because it works out cheaper.

"I'm predicting the slide this time will be faster but that we will come out of it sooner."

Land Registry figures suggest the average house price in England and Wales fell by 0.2 per cent in April to £183,626, an annual change of 2.7 per cent.

But the registry reported property in Bath and north east Somerset bucked this trend and saw average prices rise by more than £10,000 over the past 12 months to £240,896.

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