Thursday, 14 April 2011

Time to stop this proliferation of house price surveys? | Letting Agent News: Industry News | Residential Letting Software | Rentman

Time to stop this proliferation of house price surveys? | Letting Agent News: Industry News | Residential Letting Software | Rentman

We’re told that the Bank of England can’t do without it when it comes to setting interest rates – it being the RICS monthly house price survey.

And only yesterday, the BBC described it as having its ‘finger on the pulse’.

Furthermore, journalists take it so seriously that they don’t even stop in the midst of their cutting and pasting to ask themselves whether it makes sense – or even if they actually understand it.

Hence this gem from the Telegraph: “For the UK as a whole, a majority of surveyors said prices were declining but the balance improved from -26 to -23.”

Meaning what exactly?

Given that just 259 surveyors, selling under three houses a month each, contributed to this week’s survey, isn’t it time that the RICS monthly offering stopped garnering so many unquestioning headlines?

However, to be even-handed, EAT would like to dish out further brickbats to the CLG for continuing to bring out a survey that is behind the time, is funded by taxpayers and serves only to confuse.

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