Inflated house prices - Eliminating deception

Some of the media have been publishing lists of inflated prices at which property has supposedly been sold by private treaty after certain agents provided exaggerated prices of property in order to inflate the price at which they might sell other property.

This has helped to keep prices up by giving the impression that the market has not been slipping to the actual extent being experienced. Of course, vendors inevitably questioned the amount they actually received when they read the inflated sale prices published.

Yesterday the National Consumer Agency warned the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute and the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers that it is illegal to provide false information under the Consumer Protection Act 2007 and that it would not hesitate to use its powers to stop the misleading practice in order to protect the interests of consumers.

Some auctioneers have called for a public register of house prices, based on the stamp duty paid on various sales. This would protect consumers as well as the honest auctioneers who may have been unfairly criticised for not getting as much for the property they sold as that claimed by those lying about actual sale prices.

It should also help to protect the credibility of gullible elements of the media.