Agents struggling as homeowners stay put
Monday 26th January 2009, 1:00PM GMT.
Martel Maides had to close its branch on The Bridge after only a few weeks.
STAFF at an estate agency have been the latest victims of the recession, laid off after a slump in property sales.
Martel Maides director Keith Enevoldsen said that as more people grew concerned about their job security, fewer were choosing to move house.
‘It is a vicious circle,’ he said. ‘People aren’t moving because they are worried about their jobs, so agents do not make any money. An estate agent’s largest overhead is staff, so that is the cloth we have to cut to fit the market.’
Martel Maides was recently forced to close its Bridge branch due to lack of trade. That resulted in the loss of two jobs and two more were lost after the business cut back at its office in Town.
‘We have had to reduce the number of people working for us. Some we have had to lay off and others have been the subject of natural wastage.’
And Martel Maides is not the only one suffering in the economic downturn.
‘Other estate agents are all struggling for the same reason.’
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I consider Estate Agents part of the problem. Although I would never have one as a friend, I wish no ill on them.
There is a new reality out there. All we need now is for the States of Guernsey to start cutting its cloth to suit.
Chance would be a…….
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I think that Martel Maides must have been aware of the situation concerning housing sales before they opened the office on the Bridge. It seems very strange that they decided to expand whilst all the other agents had been experiencing a slowdown in sales.
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I would not wish to see anyone lose their job, but I do believe that estate agents need to offer firmer guidance to vendors on what is a realistic price to expect for their property in current conditions. How many houses are in the Housing supplement of the Guernsey Press month after month?
I think that sometimes a vendor gets a figure in their head, and the agent markets the property at that price. We all think our house is worth a lot of money – it’s human nature.
To get the market moving and reduce job losses in the estate agents we need realistic pricing in the current buyers market, and property owners need to realise that the good times of easy profit on property are gone – even in Guernsey.
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If a vendor needs to sell their property and there are no buyers, then they can drop their price, but if they do not NEED to sell, they can sit it out. Simple, supply and demand.
I note a smaller number of properties on the market these days, therefore the numbers being sold is relative and consequently commissions are reduced. Of course if the market were to be panicked and prices went into free-fall, the estate agents would be in the money again!!!
Estate agents have had exceptional times in the past, I guess a well run business would hold a reserve to utilise in a downturn, those who haven’t will no doubt suffer.
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The open market property prices are driven to a greater or lesser extent by the UK housing market, which is in free fall.
If some one wants to sell their open market property, then they will have to drop their prices significantly: I would have thought 30% at least from the peak.
The local market, however, is different, in that it is sustained by locals. Locals are keeping their heads down, staying in their existing jobs, trying to reduce their mortgages. This should result in a reduction of property transactions, but not necessarily a reduction in prices.
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We don’t need to do anything. Locals stay where they are, refurbish what they have and accept that the days of huge profits for breathing are over.
There has never been anything clever about profit from property. The only reason my husband and I have made, effectively, £400k more than anyone else is because we were born earlier than the current generation. That is our sum achievment, not through being particularly ingenious, just simply by purchasing at the ‘right time’.
Is that anything to be smug about? For some maybe, for us, definitely not.
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The open market property prices are nit driven by Uk housing prices. They have been like all house prices in the Uk or elsewhere been driven by greedy estate agents PERIOD. Now it´s their turn to face the axe. There are too many of these unscrupulous merchants in Guernsey, and it´s about time we saw the back off them. I do not include Martel´s in this becaus etehy have always been known to be honest.
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