Member Article

13 still not a lucky number for happy househunters

Superstitious househunters are on the rise, according to leading North East estate agency Pattinson.

Friday 13th June 2014 saw a 50% increase in people delaying their house completions, despite the process currently taking longer because of the new mortgage regulations.

Half of customers due to exchange contracts on Friday 13th pushed their completions back to ensure they didn’t bring bad luck on their new home.

Caroline Pattinson, managing director, said: “It’s surprising that people are still delaying moving in to their long-awaited new home because the proposed date to exchange contracts falls on Friday 13th.

“We’ve seen it happen time and time again over the years, for example Friday 13th September 2013 again saw a drop against our average Friday completions. The exception to the rule was December 2013, where many homeowners were happy to overlook the ‘unlucky’ date in order to move before Christmas.

“The introduction of the Mortgage Market Review has slowed down the house-buying process quite considerably, so we thought this year people would put moving in while the summer is upon us over and above any superstitions, but that hasn’t been the case.

“It’s not just Friday 13th either, many of our branch staff report that Chinese customers won’t buy a house with their unlucky number four.

“They say that some people will even be put off by a green door or just want to buy houses with even numbers.”

However Pattinson is reporting demand is at an all time high this year, and is calling for homeowners to consider putting their house up for sale to do it now while the summer shows the house off at its best.

“The market is definitely on the rise, we can’t sell enough houses to eager buyers at the moment so homeowners should strike lucky if they decide to sell now,” added Caroline.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Pattinson .