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UK agents 'running scared'
Thousands of UK Estate Agents could end up on the scrap heap this year, claims the CEBR...
According to new research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), up to 15,000 estate agents could lose their jobs this year due to the sagging housing market.
Jorg Radeke of the CEBR explained: “Estate agents are most vulnerable to a sharp slowdown in activity in business services, and up to 40,000 jobs could be lost in the sector as a whole, with lawyers, accountants, architects and marketing professionals also affected”.
Undermining confidence
The Chartered Institute for Purchasing and Supply recently reported that rising energy and transport costs were hurting businesses and undermining confidence in future prospects.
Mr Radeke continued: “We expect the value of activity in the housing sector to fall 3%, in real terms, this year and that 5% of those working in the industry could lose their jobs. Total employment in the real estate sector could fall from 292,000 to 277,000.
"Estate agents and others involved in managing real estate are likely to find the next 12 months particularly tough and there will be extensive job cuts”
"As real estate is among the first to face the economic downturn, it will also be among the first to benefit from a future economic upturn," Mr Radeke concluded.
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