Nearly 15,000 estate agents will lose their jobs this year due to the downturn in the housing market, it has been predicted.
Estate agents, architects and lawyers will all be hit by the current problems in the property market, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
The group said the economic downturn would cause job losses in virtually all areas of the business services sector during the coming two years, leading to more than 40,000 job cuts.
This would be the first reduction in employment in the sector since 2001, it said in its business services prospects report. But estate agents are expected to feel the impact of the downturn first, along with other groups working in the real estate market.
The sector is being hit by a combination of falling house prices and the credit crunch, which is making it harder for people to get mortgages.
Overall the group expects five per cent of people working in the real estate sector to lose their jobs by the end of 2009, while output will fall by 3% this year as the drop off in mortgage approvals and housing transactions takes its toll.
Jorg Radeke, one of the authors of the report, said: “Although unlikely to be the victims of the credit crunch that will garner the most sympathy, estate agents and others involved in managing real estate are likely to find the next 12 months particularly tough and there will be extensive job cuts.
“The only silver lining for this part of the business services sector is that ‘what comes down must go up’ and as real estate is among the first to face the economic downturn it will also be among the first to benefit from a future economic upturn.”
But while estate agents will be hit first, CEBR expects consultants, research and development firms and even accountants to suffer job losses by the end of next year.
The group added that parts of the business services sector that provided discretionary services, such as advertising and research and development, would face a more challenging environment than those providing services that were seen as being more essential, such as accounting.
