Estate Agents Start To Panic

The 70 000 estate agents in SA (about 30 000 too many) are starting to panic as the property market in SA goes over a cliff. Sellers have become accustomed to high prices but as the market deteriorates agents who are desperate to make a commission (for some their only commission of the year so far) are urging them to consider every offer. From RealEstateWeb:

Reject today's offer at your peril - agents

Greedy, stubborn sellers will regret holding out for a higher price. That's the message from a number of estate agency bosses, as residential market volumes drop off dramatically.

The latest to issue such a warning is Lew Geffen, chairman of Sotheby's International Realty SA, who believes the residential property market is much worse than recent figures from Absa suggest.

Geffen goes on to say that last year's prices are now unobtainable. With every bank predicting further weakening in the market how long before Geffen starts begging sellers to forget about 2006 prices? And then 2005 prices?