The poor activity in the housing market in terms of sales has affected many different industries, such as property removal industry, property lawyers, furniture retailers, and estate agents. Over recent months there have been many concerns raised about the number of estate agencies that could end up closing down as a result of poor property sales, and recently a London estate agency announced that after seventeen years it was finally closing the doors on property sales.

The company, Blenheim Bishop, was founded by Jonathan Vandermolen, who said that over the years the firm has enjoyed great success and has remained busy. However, since the onset of the housing slump business has reached such a low level that he has been forced to make a number of sales staff redundant and close the doors on its sales operations. The company will still focus on letting properties, as the number of properties coming onto the market for rent, and the high demand for rental homes, makes this the more viable option.

Reports indicate that the housing slump has already seen a number of other formerly busy and successful London estate agents cease operations, and there could be many more closures if the housing slump continues at its current pace over this year and next, as has been predicted by many industry officials.

Vandermolen stated: ‘I couldn’t make it work. Income from new homes was 75% down on the previous year and my view of that market is not good long-term.’

He added: ‘Most agents operate on the basis of a 25 to 30% profit margin. If trade is 50% down and 50% of your costs are for premises, staff and advertising, then it becomes difficult. If we have a couple of years of this, perhaps 50% of all estate agents will go out of business.’

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