Every month the major mortgage providers produce house price statistics from which they determine the future performance of the quick house sale market. Other reports are provided by RICS, the surveyors’ institute, the Financial Times newspaper and the Land Registry.

Guessing whether you will be selling a property on a quick house sale market or a slow one can be difficult to do because the data never agree. One report might predict a rising market, another might forecast doom and gloom.

The alternative to the official statistics is to think outside the box and use the following five indicators as a guide. If they’re favourable to you, then you can make the most of a quick house sale market.

• Employment

When the spectre of unemployment looms, house prices fall. No-one wants to move house when they’re worried about their job, and the jobless can’t afford to. In contrast, high employment levels signal more money and a quick house sale market.

• Inflation

Inflation hits the pound in people’s pockets. It means food costs more in the shops and petrol costs more on the garage forecourt. When there’s too much month left at the end of the money, people won’t want to step up the property ladder. Therefore, if inflation is high, you can bet against a quick house sale market.

• Interest rates

Interest rates are a useful indicator because they are often set to counter the predicted effects of the housing market – so you can bet the nine-person Bank of England committee who set them have done all the hard work so you don’t have to. Generally, low interest rates will stimulate demand in the housing market and high interest rates will decrease it. The painful housing crash of the early 1990s was triggered when interest rates soared above 10 per cent, and didn’t stop until they fell back under six per cent.

• Arrears and repossessions statistics

When you hear that more people are behind with their mortgage payments or that repossessions are rising, you can often bet on a quick house sale market slowing down. It will mean an increase in the number of properties hitting the market and selling at below-market-value prices – which has a knock-on effect throughout the market.

• Skirt hemlines

You may laugh, but there is a strange correlation between the length of women’s skirts and the performance of the housing market (some would say overall economic performance). During the “roaring” 1920s, hemlines rose – in one theory, because women wanted to show off the expensive nylon stockings they could afford with their new-found prosperity. Hemlines fell again during the depression of the 1930s – but climbed back up after the Second World War, reaching miniskirt levels during the booming late 1960s. As recession hit the Western world during the 1970s women covered up again, before baring all during the Blair-years boom of the 1990s. And – worryingly for some – many 2008 catwalk fashion shows have featured long-length skirts in their collections…

No matter what happens to the quick house sale market, njoy.co.uk is a dedicated website that can help get you the best price for your property from committed cash buyers in your area. We aim to give you a cash offer in principle within 24 hours of you registering your house on njoy.co.uk.