Manning Stainton - 300% Better Than Average Estate Agents

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK housing market survey for August claimed a lack of mortgage finance continued to stifle the ability of buyers to access the market.

The RICS house price balance in the region improved slightly with 95% reporting a fall in price in August, which although high was a 1% improvement from the previous month.

No estate agents in the Yorkshire region reported a rise in price, and only 5% reported that prices had stayed the same. However this was a 1% increase from July’s figures.
 
Yorkshire and the Humber was also at the bottom of the pile when it came to the survey's price series.

The average number of transactions per surveyor over the last three months across the country was 12.7, the lowest figure since the survey began with some estate agents in a number of regions reporting less than one sale per week. However, Manning Stainton, estate agents in Leeds and Wakefield, are achieving 300% better than this with an average of 3 sale per week per branch!Independent market research undertaken for Manning Stainton has revealed that some estate agents in the Leeds and Wakefield areas have achieved zero sales in some of the summer months.
 
Jonathan Charters Reid, RICS' housing market spokesman for Yorkshire and the Humber and head of Charters-Reid & Associates, said: “The whole property market at the moment is a double edged sword - prices have fallen across the board, but low property prices actually make it a good time to buy. If prices are predicted to fall even further then this suggests that it is also a good time to sell now while prices are keen.
 
“There were over 10,000 different mortgage products available this time last year, now there are 3,000. The issue is liquidity - the banks are not making the funds available at attractive rates and the customers do not have the deposit. This, coupled with the increased cost of living, means there is not as much disposable income available to pay the higher monthly mortgage fee. 
 
“The stamp duty changes and the shared equity schemes announced are helpful but only scratch the surface. Now the dust is settling, we are beginning to see the mainstream lenders starting to lend again, albeit on more cautious terms. 

"We must not lose sight of the fact that houses have doubled in price over the last five years; it is still a sound long-term investment. When banks start to release funds next year there will be a shortage of houses because new builds are on hold, and so prices will rise again as demand exceeds supply.”
 
In June and July, surveyors reported that many sellers had dropped asking prices to more realistic levels and that predatory buyers were waiting to pounce on bargains, but the traditionally weak month of August has seen this interest stagnate, the survey claimed.  For Manning Stainton the situation is different. House sales were only marginally down on June and July and have already picked up in the first week in September.

RICS said the latest repossession figures still remain "well below" the levels seen in the early 1990’s and the Government’s rescue package may have alleviated some of the trauma associated with this process.