NAEA Propertymark
-
Latest property news
Ministers ‘not listening’ on perfect storm facing high street estate agents
ARLA and the NAEA Propertymark have written a uncharacteristically blunt joint letter to business minister Andrea Leadsom warning that business rates are driving estate agents off the high street and helping reduce employment within the sector. Signed by both David Cox and Mark Hayward, the letter reflects the growing anger within the industry that the government is unaware of the perfect storm being faced by high street agents. This includes being charged higher business rates than retail premises because agents’ branches are considered offices rather than shops; and facing both increased costs created by additional regulation and competition from online agents, who utilise home-based representatives rather than office staff. “One of our members has told us that the amount they pay in business rates is greater than the annual profit made in a year,” the letter says. Fewer jobs It also suggests that this cost is beginning to impact employment levels; 3,000 fewer people were working within the sales and lettings sectors last year than compared with 2017, Propertymark claims. The letter also points out that while agents support the government’s recent investment in towns and communities and Boris’s electoral commitment to ‘thriving high streets’, the cost of business…
Read More » -
Charity
100+ propertymark agents sleep out, fundraising for the homeless
Propertymark has organised agents to take part in a charity sleep out at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, with funding from the organisation’s charitable arm, Arbon Trust.
Read More » -
Features
Summer surge? Autumn dirge? Winter freeze?
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the property indices. Kate Faulkner says, ”When they were up they were up, and when they were down, they were down and when they were only halfway up they were neither up nor down.”
Read More » -
Latest property news
PICTURES: ‘I know what it’s like to be stared at now just because you LOOK homeless’
Estate agents and suppliers at last night's charity event in Stratford's Olympic Park raised £57,000 for Centrepoint but also found out what it's like to be homeless when travelling there with their overnight gear.
Read More » -
Guest Blogs
Building solutions for estate agencies
Georgina Cox, founder love2move and NAEA Propertymark Regional Executive for the North, says Traditional estate agents are in a war on two fronts.
Read More » -
Features
Brexit means move… Brexit means stay…
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the property indices. Kate Faulkner says, “We currently have two types of buyers and sellers: those who wanted to move last year and now aim to move before Brexit – and those too worried to move at all, right now.
Read More » -
Latest property news
Queen’s speech: Where did all the government’s property industry reforms go?
None of the government's much-discussed property industry initiatives including reform of evictions, tenancy length or leaseholds were in yesterday's Queen's Speech.
Read More » -
Features
Brexit worries continue to unsettle the market
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the property indices.
Read More » -
Latest property news
Worried by ROPA? Don’t panic – more regulation is good for professionals
Industry leaders support an initiative to create a stronger property industry that will exclude rogue operators.
Read More » -
Latest property news
Fake properties on the portals are ‘common place’, claims agent
An anonymous but well-established property business in West London has told The Negotiator that fake properties on portals within its area are no longer a joke.
Read More »