It's that time of the month again (oh no, not the RICS!)

News Category: Industry News

It’s that time of the month again – the RICS survey.

Yesterday’s effort gave Estate Agent Today our usual blinding headache.

Here is a small excerpt: “A bigger proportion of surveyors are expecting house prices to fall in the coming months than at any time since March last year. Some 38% more of those asked in the RICS survey expected prices to fall rather than rise in the next three months.”

But what does this actually mean, given that so few surveyors actually took part across the nation?

After we’d gone to Boots for an over-the-counter remedy, we asked Eric Walker, boss of London agents Bushells, for his help.

He pronounced his blood to be boiling, but said helpfully: “The RICS survey has a relatively small sample size of 259. Once you work this out, that suggests that 69% said prices would drop, 31% think they will not. Why not say so, instead of providing a GCSE-level maths comprehension statement?

“How can 259 surveyors reflect the entire UK? Was there a geographic consensus? Did 38% more surveyors in London agree with 38% more surveyors in Newcastle?

“As Mark Twain said – lies, damn lies and statistics.”

“And why was the poll so small – mainly because most decent surveyors are sick to bloody death of pointless polls.”

Hear, hear, we say.

But isn’t it amazing that the national media give such prominence and credibility to something which, if our head weren’t still hurting so much, could at best be described as a few random thoughts from a disparate group of elderly gents whose main job is probably not selling houses?


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