A search for Estate agents over a 7 year period

Useful info revealed by The Bank of England today. They have discovered that property relevant Google search data can provide an accurate and pretty immediate prediction of where house prices are going.  The key is the collection and analysis of this data over various time periods from a simply massive and relevant sample.

It has been demonstrated that changes in the number of  searches for specific terms directly relates to subsequent changes in the property market place. There’s research from The US where it was found that a modest one percentage point increase in search frequency about “real estate agents” preceded an extra 67,700 house sales in the average US state.

Anyone can access  Google Insights. Type in a relevant property related search term, adjust the filter dates and location and draw your own conclusions from the results.

A useful additional resource to consult along with the usual suspects – The Nationwide, Halifax, The Council of Mortgage Lenders, R.IC.S and The Land registry!

Labels: house price statistics

Firstly let me say I wasn’t involved in finding it. I might have struggled to come to terms with suggesting a client pay £6,000 a square foot for a flat as grateful as I would have been for the commission fee.  The cheapest one bed (1,000 sq ft) start at £5m.

There are about 85 units many of which are reserved or exchanged. The development as a whole should be completed in weeks.

People say (don’t want to sound like Jeremy Clarkson) that the buyer is Sheik Hamad who owns Al Jazeera the Arab media outfit. Perhaps he will create a spur to Al Jazeeras offices off an existing underground walkway to the Mandarin Continental & The French Embassy so he can avoid the traffic. He will have bullet proof windows, SAS trained guards and a panic room too.

Want to see more? Go to the architects site for some interesting facts or perhaps the agents site for a musical and visual experience you may or may not feel justifies the price tag!

Labels: house price statistics

Recently spent serious social time as the guests of Paul, his lovely wife and family at their undeceptively massive house on the slopes of the Blackdown hills  just 5 miles south of Taunton.

For those of you who don’t live in Bristol Paul runs its most active and successful estate agency business. Not only is C.J. Holes office in Southville beating the recession its also clearly more than meeting its vendors and landlords expectations. Its doing this with an impressive line up of seriously motivated and experienced staff working as a successful team under Pauls close influence and guidance. Even after my second light ale in  Buckland St Marys excellent Candlelight Inn his deeply felt commitment to his staff and the real business of estate agency, not just the rewards, was obvious.  He doesn’t believe in offering silly valuations or empty promises just considerable experience and hard work. It clearly does the trick.

If you are in Southville and are looking to sell or rent a property for the best price -he and his team are surely the best place to start for realistic and acheivable results. Tell him I sent you.

Labels: estate agent, Southville-Bristol