The Single Life

It’s now the end of the working week, and unless something comes in for the weekend, my tally of jobs for the seven days stands at an extremely worrying ONE. A single paid job for the week preceding the school holidays in October is an alarming sign of a huge downturn in property marketing activity. I suspect that it could be an effect of the fear being churned out by all of the right-wing press outlets - succesfully attempting to spread worrying misinformation about possible property-tax policies in the upcoming budget, and deliberately creating disconcerting feelings among the property-owning millions in order to further destabilize the political landscape and deepen support for the “common-sense” policies of Reform UK - our saviours no-less.

I’ve seen lots of periods like this in previous years, but it still doesn’t stop the creeping feeling of anxiety as the winter lull approaches. The regular post-summer boom in holiday-let shoots just hasn’t appeared this autumn, and so I’m in a situation where my monthly revenue doesn’t cover my business outgoings and a wage at a time in the calendar when I’m usually flush straight after the summer peak. All real-estate businesses seem to be suffering the same shortfall in business - looking at the high end listings on Rightmove feature lots of properties displaying lovely summer exteriors, and nothing displaying the telltale autumnal shades of red and yellow.

Shares in the London-based Foxtons agency fell sharply due to the apparent short term halt in sales instructions, and the experts there stated that the late budget was having a direct effect. The budget isn’t until November 26th - a month later than usual - so I suspect there’ll be an extended hiatus in activity until the start of the new year - when confidence, and therefore sales instructions will begin to start again. People will always want and need to move, so hopefully this is just a temporary thing.