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Tens of thousands of estate agents jobs are at risk in the UK and the global economic downturn continues to have a severe affect on the property industry...
According to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) around 7,000 jobs have already been lost in the real estate sector in the last 15 months and they now say that 15,000 more are at risk.
The organisation expects the situation to get worse as there is no sign of any real movement in the property market.
If you take the worst case scenario that property sales have fallen by 50 per cent, they you would expect the industry to lose 50 per cent of its people, said NAEA Spokesman Chris Wood.
However some predict even more job losses. The Centre for Economics and Business Research has predicted that up to a further 50,000 estate agents could lose their jobs during the coming year as the housing market continues to struggle.
Ben Read, Managing Economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said the true extent of the job cuts would be shocking. Estate agents are diversifying into rentals but that can only sustain so many jobs.
lsquo;The housing market has deteriorating significantly since our last forecast published in June. Because of the worsening situation in the economy you could easily expect that figure of 15,000 to go up by 50 per cent. The true figure could even be as much as 50,000, he said.
Almost 300,000 people are employed in real estate, with the majority being estate agents. And it is not just jobs that are going, entire estate agency businesses are also being forced to shut up shop, and even major nationwide chains are closing branches, with Halifax Estate Agents announcing plans to close 53 branches earlier this year.
The construction industry is also badly affected and could see hundreds of thousands of jobs disappear. With a recession underway, new orders for the sector are already down by more than one-third from their recent high and likely to fall further over the coming months as confidence continues to slide.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors will urge the Government on Monday to bring forward capital funding for vital projects. Jobs that could be lost include include quantity surveyors, project managers, plasterers, bricklayers and carpenters.

AS CREDIT CRUNCH REACTION BITES - CALLS FOR FRENCH STYLE TENANCIES

There has been a call for the introduction of more long-term tenancy agreements to bring the UK in line with the Continent where such practice is commonplace...
In France the rental market is highly developed and long-term tenancy is a well-proven and well-used option for tenants who wish to organise their financial affairs in this way.
The Chief Executive of Belvoir, the UKs largest specialist lettings agency, has appeared on the BBC2 Money Programme to explain how tenants and landlords could benefit from the security of long-term tenure. Mike Goddard said it needs to be recognised that renting can be a financially viable and sensible lifestyle choice.
The Money Programme predicted that by 2010 up to two million people could be in negative equity and more people than ever are becoming landlords and tenants. This has come about as the average UK house price has plummeted by pound;15,000, new mortgage approvals have dropped by 95 per cent and the number of houses sold is at a 30-year low.
Mike Goddard said that the days when renting was viewed as a second rate option are fast disappearing, as is the stigma of being a tenant. We are now seeing the first stage in a fundamental shift in attitude by the British public toward homeownership and renting. It is evident that more tenants want increased security of tenure in where they live, and this is not readily available within the current legal framework of the Housing Act.
He believes that in the UK we will gradually move towards a similar situation; short-hold tenancy will not be the only option and long-term tenancies will become readily available. This will give the tenant more rights and more security.
The Money Programme outlined the completely different attitude to renting property in France, where even before the credit crunch mortgages were notoriously difficult to obtain. Three-year leases are standard, often increasing to nine years, and tax incentives are available to people renovating property for the rental market. Although tenants have more rights, they accept responsibility for repairs and maintenance.
This is a fundamental incentive to long-term tenancy, according to Mike Goddard. He feels a landlord would be unwilling to give long-term tenancy unless there was an agreement that the tenant would take responsibility for some of the costs. Equally, tenants need the security of knowing they can live in the property long enough to benefit from any money they have invested.

Sites for Price Trackers and Property Aficionados

Dinner parties just aren't the same these days now that boastful comparisons of house prices are out. But if you have to talk property, websites can keep you informed.

The three most respected 'private' pricetracking websites are www.hometrack.co.uk, www.hbosplc.co.uk and www.nationwide.co.uk, based on estate agents' data or mortgage offers.

Official prices - based on completed house sales, so lagging behind the others by about two months - are on www.landregistry.gov.uk, www.ros.gov.uk and www.irni.gov.uk.

There are a few edgier price sites, too. www.zoopla.co.uk spills the beans on sale prices of homes bought recently in each postcode and gives a rough guide to prices today. Some estate agents use it to work out valuations. www.propertysnake.co.uk gives the lowdown on how many homes have reductions, be they incentives from desperate developers or price cuts from anxious private sellers.

Property anoraks can vent their spleen at www.housepricecrash.co.uk and www.globalhousepricecrash.com, both arguing for serious price falls. They have a cultish tone and are fierce rivals: one blogger on the global site advises contributors to the other to "get out of that swamp and leave the bigots to it". The Register of Estate Agents on www.roea.co.uk allows you to submit your own experiences of buying and selling, and rank any estate agent you deal with. You can also see how other agents are ranked before you instruct them.

Perhaps the most informed property enthusiast's website is www.theratandmouse.co.uk, a highly readable mix of fact and irony. It culls papers and magazines twice daily for property gossip, whether it is the latest legal action against a dodgy estate agent or the scoop on Bruce Willis buying in Marylebone.

www.findaproperty.com
Split into geographical areas, this site features most London agents’ properties for sale and rent. Shortcuts to three-bedroom houses in N22, for instance, are easy to navigate and there are detailed, well-written area overviews and ‘word on the street’ comments from local residents.

www.fish4homes.co.uk
A clear, simple to use and huge site that many local press websites use as a search engine for more than 300,000 properties.

www.home.co.uk
A recommended home buyer’s guide; featured properties of the week and links to over half a million properties in the country makes this a good place to start your house search.

www.houseladder.co.uk
If you want to miss out the middle man and sell your house privately, you can advertise it on this site (from £69.99). You can also place it on some of the biggest portals, such as www.propertyfinder.com.

www.londonpropertynews.co.uk
Experts on the London property scene, London Property News publishes five magazines on the subject. Links to available properties are not as numerous as at some places, but the site’s easy to navigate.

www.propertyfinder.com
Simply type in the price range, how many bedrooms you want, along with the postcode of the area in which you are looking, and this site will find any relevant properties for sale there.

www.propertyhotspots.net
A predominantly paid-for site written by Ajay Ahuja and costing £9.97 for the first seven days. A property newsletter in essence, it does what it says on the tin: gives you advice about where to look next for the best bargains, plus advice on property investment.

www.rightmove.co.uk
Another website that hooks you up to thousands of available properties, this also features a useful and updated house price index and
a new tool that lets you search by tube and train station.

www.tfl.gov.uk
Log on to Transport for London’s website, type 2016 map and download a tube map as it might be in ten years’ time, with tube stops planned for Brockley, Dalston, Haggerston and Woolwich High Street.

www.upmystreet.com
A huge website that lets you search for almost anything you might want to know (or not know) about a prospective road, from crime rates to schools and recent sale prices.

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