Housing market crash has led to 32,000 estate agents losing their job
More than 30,000 estate agents have lost their jobs since the start of the credit crisis, according to research which highlights how the housing crash has wreaked havoc across the economy.
By Harry Wallop,
26 Dec 2008
It means that almost half of the estimated 80,000 estate agents who were in work 18 months ago have since been made unemployed.
The job losses are the result of a dramatic fall in house prices and house sales during the past year, which has caused severe hardship for the thousands of estate agency branches dependant on a vibrant housing market.
Around 4,000 estate agency offices -approximately one in four - have closed, leading to the loss of jobs not just for the sales agents themselves, but also valuers, negotiators, weekend viewing staff, administrators and mortgage advisers.
No official numbers exist for how many people estate agents employ, but research undertaken for The Daily Telegraph by Rosalind Renshaw, a senior consultant to the National Association of Estate Agents, calculates that the number of estate agents in work has fallen from 80,000 in the summer of 2007 to 48,000 at Christmas.
In May this year it was estimated that just 4,000 estate agents had lost their jobs. The latest calculations suggest the second half of the year has seen an avalanche of job losses in the industry.
The job losses are contributing to the rising tide of unemployment across the entire economy.
Ms Renshaw said: "I think the figures are reasonably conservative. It really has been a bleak year, and the losses faced by the estate agency industry have been mostly swept under the carpet."
Most property experts reluctantly agree with her calculations, which have been based on a research into every major property firm in the country.
Estate agency trainer and legal expert David Perkins says: "My feeling is that the industry has already virtually halved. Although a surprising number of agents have kept offices open, they now run on skeleton staff, perhaps just a manager and one other person."
Those affected have ranged from the country's biggest estate agency businesses, to the smallest.
Trevor Kent, a former president of the National Association of Estate Agents, has laid off three of his six staff, including two of his sons – not unusual in an industry still characterised by family-run businesses.
He specialises in upmarket properties: "In spring last year, I'd be selling a £1 million house at the rate of one a week. It's now one a month, and the price has dropped to £800,000.
"The last housing recession, in the early nineties, was like a dimmer switch. The market deteriorated gradually. This time, it was like blowing a fuse – it went out immediately."
The average price this year has fallen from £195,00 to £164,000, according to the country's biggest lender, Halifax.
But the fall in sales has only been part of the problem. For estate agents what has been more damaging has been the dramatic slump in house sales, which was fuelled by the drying up of the mortgage market.
The credit crisis led to lenders making it very difficult for house buyers to find a cheap home loan.
Estate agency sales have fallen to just one a week, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors – the lowest level since it began collecting data in 1978.
Data from the Land Registry shows that the number of houses changing hands has fallen by 64 per cent over the last year.
More than 30,000 estate agents have lost their jobs since the start of the credit crisis, according to research which highlights how the housing crash has wreaked havoc across the economy.
By Harry Wallop,
26 Dec 2008
It means that almost half of the estimated 80,000 estate agents who were in work 18 months ago have since been made unemployed.
The job losses are the result of a dramatic fall in house prices and house sales during the past year, which has caused severe hardship for the thousands of estate agency branches dependant on a vibrant housing market.
Around 4,000 estate agency offices -approximately one in four - have closed, leading to the loss of jobs not just for the sales agents themselves, but also valuers, negotiators, weekend viewing staff, administrators and mortgage advisers.
No official numbers exist for how many people estate agents employ, but research undertaken for The Daily Telegraph by Rosalind Renshaw, a senior consultant to the National Association of Estate Agents, calculates that the number of estate agents in work has fallen from 80,000 in the summer of 2007 to 48,000 at Christmas.
In May this year it was estimated that just 4,000 estate agents had lost their jobs. The latest calculations suggest the second half of the year has seen an avalanche of job losses in the industry.
The job losses are contributing to the rising tide of unemployment across the entire economy.
Ms Renshaw said: "I think the figures are reasonably conservative. It really has been a bleak year, and the losses faced by the estate agency industry have been mostly swept under the carpet."
Most property experts reluctantly agree with her calculations, which have been based on a research into every major property firm in the country.
Estate agency trainer and legal expert David Perkins says: "My feeling is that the industry has already virtually halved. Although a surprising number of agents have kept offices open, they now run on skeleton staff, perhaps just a manager and one other person."
Those affected have ranged from the country's biggest estate agency businesses, to the smallest.
Trevor Kent, a former president of the National Association of Estate Agents, has laid off three of his six staff, including two of his sons – not unusual in an industry still characterised by family-run businesses.
He specialises in upmarket properties: "In spring last year, I'd be selling a £1 million house at the rate of one a week. It's now one a month, and the price has dropped to £800,000.
"The last housing recession, in the early nineties, was like a dimmer switch. The market deteriorated gradually. This time, it was like blowing a fuse – it went out immediately."
The average price this year has fallen from £195,00 to £164,000, according to the country's biggest lender, Halifax.
But the fall in sales has only been part of the problem. For estate agents what has been more damaging has been the dramatic slump in house sales, which was fuelled by the drying up of the mortgage market.
The credit crisis led to lenders making it very difficult for house buyers to find a cheap home loan.
Estate agency sales have fallen to just one a week, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors – the lowest level since it began collecting data in 1978.
Data from the Land Registry shows that the number of houses changing hands has fallen by 64 per cent over the last year.
