Fifteen thousand estate agents could lose their jobs

According to a recent report around fifteen thousand estate agents could lose their jobs this year, as the housing slump coupled with lack of mortgages due to the credit crunch, continue to take their toll. The prediction has been made in a worrying report from the Centre for Economic & Business Research. The report goes on to state that jobs will also be lost in other related areas as a result of the housing slump and credit crunch, with around twenty five thousand job losses expected in areas such as the legal field, engineering, and architecture.

The accountancy group KPMG has recently announced that it plans to cut around two hundred jobs in their sales and marketing and their corporate finance sectors, and it seems that this trend is set to continue with other firms. The global credit crunch and the housing slump is having a dire effect on the estate agent business but is also impacting heavily on other related areas. House prices have fallen steeply lately, and many sellers are funding themselves unable to sell their properties.

Another sector that has been deeply affected by these problems is the house removal industry, and this is due to a double whammy. Not only have housing sales fallen, resulting in less business for removal companies, but the soaring cost of petrol has added to their problems, sending costs through the roof. One official stated: ‘Domestic removals have virtually collapsed.’

One official blamed the credit crunch for estate agents’ problems, stating: ‘The irony is that there is no shortage of people who want to move house, but without mortgages they just can’t do so. Estate agents are having to close because there just isn’t enough movement in the housing market and that is likely to have a much wider impact because a healthy housing market is essential for the health of the high street.’