It’s getting bleak.
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Fact 1: ONS is always OTT
Fact 1: Research by my followers, in particular Otta Property, shows that ONS House Price Index initial publication gets revised, but its own figures show that it’s ALWAYS revised DOWN, and significantly so.
This means that when the media publishes headlines about “house prices rise”, it’s not always correct. In fact, it has been overstating it significantly for over a year now.
So, whenever anyone says to you “But the ONS says house prices are going up!” you can say, “actually no, they are ALWAYS revised down afterwards.
You can see this for yourself if you want to go and query the Land Registry data tables yourself!
Fact 2: UK Finance lobbies government for additional support for housing as Bank of England fails to cut rate.
They’ve asked for small changes to stamp duty. They should be asking for stamp duty to be scrapped altogether.
There are increasing signs that the lending industry is getting desperate to lend more, including cutting mortgage rates even when the Bank of England didn’t cut it’s rate, as they hoped.
Fact 3: UK Consumer Confidence Plummets to lowest in decades
After the distractions of the election, Euro 24, nd the summer holidays, reality returns with a bite for UK consumers with the sharpest drop in consumer confidence in decades.
This will not help boost mover confidence, as buyers need to feel long term confidence in their finances to take on the commitment of buying a home.
Fact 4: Government (tax payer) debt reaches 100% of GDP for the first time.
This means that the debt burden on us taxpayers can only rise, until we get a government that takes a different view.
This will impact living standards, disposable incomes and future prospects for all. It’s not a positive sign.
Fact 5: eXp Agency boss warns of ‘lull’ in market and prices.
Adam now has a network of over 600 self-employed agents covering the UK, who collectively are outperforming other large agency brands.
It’s refreshing, and telling, that he’s breaking away from the usual “everything’s fine” message we normally get from large agency groups.