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Tag: RICS

Signs of recovery and the cost of missed opportunities in the housing market

Signs of recovery and the cost of missed opportunities in the housing market

The latest housing market data all point to a recovery. Mortgage approvals measured over three months are at a three-year high. Prices are rising. Sales are more buoyant. Starts appear to be on the way up. Indeed more positive wider economic news of late no doubt has helped underpin a sense of confidence, while the periodic scares from the Euro area seem to create less fear each time they come into focus and fade again. The improved housing statistics should…

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Today’s GDP figures and why I think Government remains totally wrong on construction

Today’s GDP figures and why I think Government remains totally wrong on construction

The GDP data provided the Chancellor George Osborne with solace. The 0.3% quarterly rise allowed him to suggest the figures provided evidence that the economy is healing. Had the figures shown a decline he would have been fending off a huge amount of flak. That’s politics. But the figures mean little in the grand scheme of things unless they work some magic on the animal spirits within the economy. The economy is probably rising very gently, but far too slowly…

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Positive signs in the RICS housing survey – but nothing to get too excited about

Positive signs in the RICS housing survey – but nothing to get too excited about

Recent surveys of the housing market by the surveyors’ body RICS have become increasingly positive in tone and are finding increasing signs of life. There are some promising signs in the findings for house builders and the construction industry. Inevitably the popular focus falls on price changes, with rises seen as a sign of an improving market. Here the RICS found stability taking the nation as a whole and its members were modestly bullish about the prospect of prices rising…

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Optimism rises that 2013 will see more homes sold – that should mean more homes built

Optimism rises that 2013 will see more homes sold – that should mean more homes built

Estate agents are increasingly optimistic that 2013 will see housing transactions rise. That’s encouraging for their books. But if they’re right it’s good news for construction, house builders in particular. Since the late 1970s there’s been a close link between private house completions and overall housing transactions. Roughly, for every ten homes sold one home is built (corrected from first blog) . So the more existing homes are sold the more new homes are built. According to RICS’s latest monthly…

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Why we should be cautious about seeing the RICS survey as a signpost to growth in UK construction

Why we should be cautious about seeing the RICS survey as a signpost to growth in UK construction

The press release headline for today’s RICS construction market survey suggests the industry will turn the corner and grow in 2013. That sounds like encouraging news. Sadly, it is probably over optimistic and probably overstates the results of the survey. Sorry to burst one of the all too few happy bubbles you’ll see this year. But there’s a host of reasons to be cautious over the interpretation of the latest survey. The RICS construction survey provides a useful indication of…

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What is the optimism in the latest RICS construction survey telling us?

What is the optimism in the latest RICS construction survey telling us?

The latest survey of the construction market by the surveyors’ body RICS provides on first reading some confusion, showing optimism rising sharply while workloads fall. The survey has produced a mildly negative balance for surveyors’ workloads. Yet it also showed expectations of improvement in workload, employment and profit at levels not seen since the recession. Curious. What lies behind this surge in optimism among surveyors? Are we seeing green shoots?

The housing market is in a coma and the drugs don’t work – a bit more verve perhaps?

The housing market is in a coma and the drugs don’t work – a bit more verve perhaps?

The housing market remains in a weird state of suspended animation. There is the odd flinch or twitch to give commentators (myself included) something to remark on and the Daily Express something to splash on its front page. But in reality things have been flat for about two years. Naturally, with prices more or less flatlining, the reality is that houses in real terms are getting cheaper – that is to say the ones that are being sold are on…

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Whatever the spin, whatever the weather, the housing market news looks to be getting worse

Whatever the spin, whatever the weather, the housing market news looks to be getting worse

One thing guaranteed to pull the trigger for even a half-awake journalist is an upbeat spin put on what looks like really duff news. The normal reaction is: “God, things must be bad.” So the “Wet weather fails to deter buyers” headline on the press release for the RICS Housing Market Survey immediately had me worried.

Government should be fixing its policy credibility rather than boasting about its fiscal credibility

Government should be fixing its policy credibility rather than boasting about its fiscal credibility

The Government’s intervention to boost infrastructure spending is timely. The construction data is almost all pointing in a southerly direction. The latest construction activity survey from the surveyors’ body RICS, released today, suggests workload among its members shrank in the second quarter.