A Shropshire-based estate agency has become one of the first victims of the credit crunch in the county, closing four of its six offices.Directors at Monks Chartered Surveyors, which has its main office in Shrewsbury, yesterday agreed to go into voluntary liquidation and branches in Welshpool, Knighton, Leominster and Hereford closed at 3pm.
They said the decision had to be made because not enough houses are being sold. Ten staff have been made redundant but 16 will be kept on with the firm.
Today director Mary Cambray, who took over Monks five-years-ago with her husband Richard, said she hoped to keep the Shrewsbury and Wem offices open. The agency has been established for more than 20 years in Shropshire letting and selling properties.
A seventh branch, in Oswestry, is not affected as it is run in association with Davis Meade.
Mrs Cambray said it was a sad time for the company, which was forced to restructure because of the current economic climate.
She said: “We have closed four offices and made 10 people redundant. It is the economic climate. People are not buying and selling houses at the moment.
“The market is on the brink of a recession and with the current climate people are not buying and selling houses and that’s the business we are in.
“We had a meeting yesterday. Staff were notified yesterday and redundancy starts from today.
“I think a lot of them were not surprised because in every newspaper you open and broadcast you watch that’s what is happening on the market. We are hoping to keep Wem and Shrewsbury going. We started in Shrewsbury and Shrewsbury is the biggest office.
“The positive thing is Wem and Shrewsbury will continue.
“The Telegraph last week said 150 estate agents a week are closing.
Voluntary
“Locally, we hear of people cutting back staff and closing offices and I think that will continue through the year until the situation improves.
“It is voluntary liquidation - we, as directors to the company, made this decision. It is a very recent decision because of the way the market is continuing to go.
“We had to make a decision as to what we were going to do because not enough houses are being sold.
“If you talk to any agency in the country, they will tell you the same thing.”
9 Comments
SADLY, SEEN IT ALL BEFORE THE BUBBLE HAD TO BURST
THE PROPERTY HIKE COULD NOT LAST FOR EVER.
It’s always sad when people lose their jobs, but I’ve got no sympathy here, I’m afraid. This industry made billions wile the boom was on, by ramping up house prices and making property ownership out of reach for the average person. Now that the correction is underway and house prices are crashing back down to the level they should be at, they are going out of business at a tremendous rate.
There appears to be a general perception amongst the public that EAs’ are responsible for the unstainable ramping up of prices. Yes, they have benefited in the short term, but by and large they have been a victim of circumstances and deserve our sympathy. The real culprits are the banks and the Treasury who have provided the hot air to inflate this bubble. This crash is coming and the sooner it arrives, the better for everyone. It is the period of denial that is causing the problems and as such the future rests in the hands of the vendors. The sooner they readjust their expectations, the sooner we will revert to a BAU situation.
Estate agents laughed at me 2 years ago when I tried my best to secure a house to for my family to live in during their “rising” market, when I put in an asking price bid. Who’s laughing now.
it is the estate agents who hike up the prices of properties in order to maximise their own commissions, they are just victims of their own greed
daffyd, did you ever stop to think that people have lost their jobs and their livelihoods? And that these people are not actually responsible for the prices going up in the 1st place?? a house is only worth what someone will pay for it, so the blame cannot all be put on estate agents! what a stupid thing to suggest. oh, and while your gloating about how the industry is getting what it deserves, did you stop and think about the knock on effect it has with everything??? builders are loosing their jobs - do u feel no sympathy for them as they are the ones who built the overly expensive houses???
you cannot blame ea’s for ramping up prices, you can blame market forces, shortage of new builds and the terrific influx of immigrants and asylum seekers who are all welcome but have added to the shortage of housing.
this bubble bursting was not caused by the treasury but certainly the banks and building societies have a lot to answer for, with their ludicrous lending and being caught out by the usa pure greed.
unlike the early 1990’s property crash we at present have fairly full employment. in devon and cornwall growers cannot find enough workers to harvest their crops. but i have a warning if employment should rise significantly then the social problems including housing will be severe in this country and i fear the next 2 years will be a rocky ride. thank goodness gordon brown is in charge, 10p tax permitting he will pull us through!!
There is still terrific demand for housing, rented or owned. I don’t think we’re going to see a house price crash to the extent we saw in the late eighties. I think the influence of immigrants on the market is over-stated by the way - they have very little access to decent-quality accommodation in many cases due to a lack of funds - the idea that they’re pushing up house prices is a bit far-fetched.
Evidence in the Shropshire Star a couple of weeks ago indicated that prices are barely falling in Shropshire. Of course in London prices are taking a hit, but we mustn’t overlook the effect that greedy bankers with their obscenely large bonuses had on the London property market by sweeping up all the property they could get their grubby mits on.
There are many people suffering through the slowdown in property movement - builders, removal men, and yes, estate agents and solicitors too. We should have some sympathy for all of them. I’m not sure I could extend mine to the greedy irresponsible bankers who caused all this in the first place though.
i did not mean anything disrespectful about immigrants and asylum seekets as most if not all have jobs and are on the bottom rung of the housing ladder, whether they buy or rent. this is bound to make housing expensive, and now the large developers are sitting on their land banks until the mortgage supply improves. this will happen soon hopefully and the housing market may improve, then estate agents can expand again