YP Letters: '˜The Waitrose effect' on house prices is a myth

YOU continue the myth of the Waitrose effect (The Yorkshire Post, May 29). The article states that this boosts the value of property by £36,000. You could equally have said that it overprices houses by £36.000. Neither of these statements is correct. There is no causal relationship between the price and the supermarket.

It is the supermarkets that deliberately pick areas to locate stores using complex social statistics to select the type of people they are aiming for. This means that Waitrose select areas with higher value housing as their potential market.

The higher house price was therefore in existence before the supermarkets turned up. In fact it would be unusual for the location not to be the chosen population type. If you are Waitrose you select upmarket areas, if you are Lidl you don’t select on this basis.

Another case of data/statistics being wrongly interpreted.

There is a famous old chestnut relating to statistics. A member of staff was sent to King’s Cross to ask a random sample about gambling. Strangely 100 per cent were in favour. On further investigations the employer found out that in fact the staff member had asked people queueing for a train to Doncaster (on St Leger day)! There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.