Debtwire is an organisation that keeps an eye on the health of real estate agencies in the UK and according to their latest reports there is trouble brewing on the horizon.

The Telegraph posted an article yesterday that painted doom and gloom of the UK real estate affairs reporting that some 1,000 agencies had shut down countrywide since the start of this year. The report was based on Debtwire’s studies and indicates that since every Realtor employs an average of 4 people in their offices that would reflect a total job loss of 4,000 and numbers are expected to rise further for the remainder of 2008.

Apparently the current rate of forced shut downs stands around 150 per week and if we multiply this by the left over months for this year, things can become serious pretty fast for many breadwinners in the country.

But Realtor’s aren’t the only ones affected.

Removal agencies are also on the receiving end of this downward spiral, since when nobody buys, nobody moves or at least a lot less people than was the case previously.

The question is: where will all this lead? Who else will be affected by the continuous reaches of the global credit crisis?

This whole scenario is a result of the 26 percent fall in property sales over the last 12 months alone.

Since banks and mortgage lenders have cut back their lending by a horrendous 44 percent in the last year (the lowest ever, since the bank of England first collected data 15 years ago), people who could, can’t buy.

It puts everyone into a pretty tight corner.

Apparently, even the big players in the field feel the crunch. Country giants R A Bennett & Partners, Bairstow Eves and Gascoigne-Pees have closed 50 branches since 2007 and are ready to cut further costs.

As it seems this report has made many people quite nervous as can be seen in the resulting comment section in above named post. It will be interesting to see how people in the UK can digest the gloomy period. We suspect that many will end up being forced to sell, which isn’t exactly what one wants to do right now as housing prices in the country are valued less than they were a year ago.

Perhaps it is time to tighten that belt and look after number one.

Related Posts

• Right mortgage choice when buying abroad
• Canada: Is All Doom and Gloom Here As Well?
• Are Central London Houses Priced To Tumble?
• iPhone estate agents
• Property Grand Prix - Spain