High street agents close more offices than ice cream parlours, supermarkets and bookshops

Estate agents were among the biggest ‘fallers’ in the high street in the first six months of this year.

The dwindling of their high street numbers put them in fourth place behind charity shops, shoe shops and women’s clothes shops which shut down.

However, numbers are tiny.

According to new figures from PwC and the Local Data Company, 114 estate agency branches closed and 78 opened – giving a net loss of 36 branches.

Gift shops, card shops and banks were named as the other sectors which lost high street presence.

By contrast, tobacconists, TV shops, beauty shops, coffee shops, booksellers, supermarkets and ice cream parlours finished the first six months of this year with more high street outlets than they started with.

PwC specifically cites Rightmove and Zoopla as being the reason behind the fall in the number of agency outlets.

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12 Comments

  1. GPL

    Hoorah for Ice Cream Shops – I’m going to combine my Estate Agency with an Ice Cream Parlour…. it’s a Win Win formula for my clients and me!

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    1. P-Daddy

      Don’t shout that out too loudly GPL…Foxtons will add an ice cream fridge to their fizzy drink glass displays!!

      Dear PWC…wrong, the closures are nothing to do with RMV and Z…there is a changing market and too many agents.

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      1. Paul

        Well you could lay it at their door.  RM and Z are supposed to sell houses aren’t they……………….?

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    2. Property Paddy

      BRAIN FREEZE !!!!

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  2. Estate_Agent_Memes

    More bookshops opening after people thinking they only wanted Amazon/online/kindles…. hmmm…?

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  3. MrLister

    That’ll all change over the next few years. We’re going to see the numbers of High Street agents closing increasing dramatically as they carry on slashing their fees and struggling to compete with the purple people.

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    1. smile please

      Is there a pub where you guys all meet and come up with all this drivel?

       

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    2. levinyl91

      What planet are you on? Never in a million years will online take over!

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    3. GPL

      MrLister drinks in the purplepub smile please …..as you know.

      What you may not know is that all the customers that go in, pay their beer money upfront and get ……sod all.

      Then I go in, charge them £1000 upfront and throw a bucket of cold water over them ….and then I leave, shouting

      “Beermisery Sucks …..doesn’t it!”

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  4. Peter

    Estate/Letting Agencies and Charities, There is an increased feeling of similarity about these two don’t you think.

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  5. AgentVX17

    By 2020 60% independent estate agent will be out of the market!

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    1. PeeBee

      That’ll be 39.9% less than the losses suffered by the call-centre and bedroom billy agent fraternities, then…

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