Crime website could drive down house prices

Feb 3 2011 By James Gates

Estate agents fear a crime mapping website could drive down house prices

CRIME maps released by the police will impact on house prices, according to estate agents in Ealing.

The new maps, which went live this week, show crime statistics for areas in the UK along with a breakdowns for the number of crimes committed in those areas.

And they also show which roads in an area are the hotspots for a particular type of crime, such as robberies.

John Bishop, owner of Colin Bibra Estate Agents in The Mall, Ealing, said: “These maps will have an effect on house prices. There is some debate about the accuracy of the information on these sites but that doesn't matter.

“They will have an effect because even if people take these maps with a grain of salt, the damage has already been because it's sown a seed in people's minds. People will say: 'Oh I don't want to live in this road or that road as I heard there's a lot of crime in that area.

“It could affect house prices and I'm concerned what the impact of that will be.”

Lisa Nixon, lettings manager for Townends in The Broadway, Ealing said: “I would agree that these maps will have an impact. The information that those maps give to people will have a knock-on effect. Prices will go down as people simply won't want to live in the areas which are mentioned.”

The crime maps website, www.police.uk, attracted huge traffic this week, with many complaining that the site was not viewable as it could not cope with the number of visitors.

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