Spanish Estate Agents struggling???

A report in the Spanish daily ‘EL Pais’ claims that in only six months, the ten largest Estate Agents in Spain have closed over HALF their offices!

High commission rates & the collapse in home sales has forced 2 national chains of estate agents into administration. and 2 others, have been put up for sale, though so far without any takers.

At the end of last year, 9 of the 10 biggest agents in Spain had more than 100 offices around the country. Today, only 3 of them have.

In the recent 'fat years' of Spain’s property boom, selling houses was a lucrative business that anyone could get into, requiring no professional training or qualifications. As a result, clients got a raw deal.

“If a vendor wanted 180,000 Euros for a property, it was quite normal for the property to sell for 230,000 Euros thanks to various commissions,”

one broker working for a franchise told El Pais. “I kept some, the franchise owner took some, then there were brand fees, the cost of the deeds, mortgage opening fees, taxes…..it was crazy.”

Coldwell Banker, a large international estate agency, have also now pulled out of Spain, just 2 years after entering the market with aggressive expansion plans to open up 300 offices.

If the biggest agents have closed more than half their offices in the last 6 months, the number of small operators going out of business is likely to be much higher.

The Spanish financial paper El Economista reported that 'Don Piso' has closed most of its offices, laid off staff, and reduced its marketing budget in an attempt to cut costs.

Demand for property has fallen 75% says company spokesman Emiliano Bermudez. The reason is the rapidly growing success of 'for sale by owner' websites and banks that “now do not give 100% mortgages plus costs, only 80% mortgages,” which has “excluded many immigrants who need a house from the market.”