Bad in Wales

Slump is worst since 1930s - veteran estate agent

Jan 1 2009

by Nick Machin, South Wales Echo

THE current economic slump will be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s, a South Wales estate agent has warned.
And Saul Magrill should know – because he was there.
Mr Magrill, 94, thought to be Britain’s oldest working estate agent, is shocked at the downturn in the housing market.
He blamed the banks for being “greedy” and spenders for lacking self-discipline.
Mr Magrill started work as a property consultant when he was just 17 in 1931, at the height of the pre-war economic downturn.
But Mr Magrill, who works one day a week for the Chris John Estate Agents in Pontcanna, Cardiff, as a consultant, says that was nothing compared to what Britain is going through now.
He said: “It’s much, much worse now than it was in the 1920s or 1930s.
“I started work when I was 17 in 1931 during the height of the Depression.
“But I have to say that I think 2009 will be much worse than 1931 because people don’t know the old-fashioned rules of budgeting.”
Mr Magrill said property prices had been too high for years and a slump was only a matter of time.
“I’ve been saying for a long time that the bubble had to burst. People were taking out mortgages more than 10 times their annual salary – which they just couldn’t afford.
“In the 1930s people mainly rented property anyway, which was more affordable than it is today, so there wasn’t this risk of lots of people losing their homes and having negative equity. The banks have been deviant. They have been very greedy.”
Mr Magrill added that people today would find it harder to adjust to budgeting.
“In the 1930s it was always hard and everyone struggled so you would stick together,” he said.
“But now people are buying things on credit they can’t afford and are being encouraged to by retailers.
“There was never that option or temptation in the 1930s – you had to make do with what you had.”