Estate agents are finding it difficult to cope in the recession
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New figures released by the British Property Federation claim that one in six estate agent branches has closed over the last year
The research, carried out by the Local Data Company, compared office numbers from 2008 until 2009 from Savills, Winkworth, Bairstow Eves, Haart and Halifax to name but a few.
In 12 months to from October 2008 until October 2009, they found that 142 outlets shut. Chains that had five units or more were the worst hit, losing 54 outlets.
Halifax was the biggest casualty, and had to shut 30.6 percent of its branches; whilst they had 147 branches they are now left with 102. Bairstow Eves was hit the least, with 174 outlets compared to 218 in 2008, however, it still had a drop of 20.2 per cent.
James Moss, director of Curzon Investment Property said the figures were unsurprising but also warned that estate agents needed to sharpen up their image, ‘The closures are a direct result of the property crash, but the other huge problem we have is that people see estate agents more like window salesmen than doctors’.
It seems that there are hard times ahead for estate agencies as the UK struggles to come out of the recession.
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