Friday, January 9, 2009

Property ramping evolves

I have noticed a disturbing trend developing within the property pages of newspapers. The dated "buy now or be shut out forever" article has fallen away. Instead, we are seeing a more insiduous series of articles claiming that "its a great time to buy because prices are lower."

The London Standard produced a classic example of this trend today, entitled "why we are plunging into a falling property market". Here is a little taster:

The Big Deposit Investor

Offer accepted on: three-bedroom flat in Fulham for almost £600,000 down from asking price of £800,000. Saving: almost £200,000.

Alex Daly and her sister were looking to invest around £400,000 to £600,000 that they have pooled from savings. “I've always believed in bricks and mortar, something you can touch,” she says. “And with prices where they are at the moment, I hope a property will yield better than a bank.”


Two bedroom flats in Fulham - priced at £600,000 - are still massively overvalued, even if they have fallen £200,000.

Still, the article had some nice examples of the bone-crunching price drops that have recently hit the capital. Definitely, the best bit of this article.

4 comments:

  1. Fulham, the poor man's chelsea

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  2. Ever get the feeling the journo's have started to see their own 'wealth' getting hit due to the drop in property prices?
    Reeks of desperation to me. Also its a great indicator that things are still rubbish as the folk they speak to are all either already wealthy or in high paying jobs. Why didn't they interview someone working at on an average wage? oh yes.... the majority aren't 'plunging' in thats why sales are at their lowest in decades.
    doh!

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  3. Is there nothing under £300,000 in London, then?

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  4. I've noticed this, it's very annoying. The BBC London news during the week had an estate agent on saying London property would soon boom because it was so cheap to Russians.

    Although what really made me look for heavy objects to hurl at the TV was when they used the line "property is always a better investment than the get-rich-quick stock exchange."

    The FSA should be investigating these people.

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