Slump forces estate agent closure

Estate agents in Wolverhampton have closed one of their offices, with the loss of two jobs, as the declining house market takes its toll.

Berriman Eaton opened the branch in Shifnal in March last year but has had to shut it as fewer people buy homes amid growing uncertainty as prices fall.

Phone lines at the branch divert to the head office in Tettenhall and the building is in darkness. A manager at the shop has been transferred to Bridgnorth and two part-time workers were made redundant on June 13.

The company also has a branch in Wombourne.

Boss Nick Berriman said: "It was not a decision we took lightly.

"The Shifnal office was in the right place with the right team but unfortunately at the wrong time.

"It is not a reflection on any of the staff who worked there but it was a very young office and it was only the second year of being open.

"We are in a difficult housing market and had to decide that now was not the time to be establishing a new base. It is a shame because the first year that the Shifnal office was open it was more successful than we anticipated and we had a three-year business plan for it.

"This year it did not perform as we had hoped but everyone who worked there did an excellent job."

Mr Berriman said the company would not be getting rid of the office, in Bradford Street. "We still have the lease and will continue to do so as we fully expect conditions to improve and to be able to reopen when the market recovers."

Mr Berriman said the estate agents next door to his Shifnal office, Highfields, had closed last year.

Berriman Eaton was created in 2006 following the merger of David Berriman estate agents and Eaton Estates. The firm labels itself as a specialist estate agency which focuses on properties in the middle to upper end of the market.

This year it was celebrating after achieving outstanding results in a national survey, scoring top marks in all categories in a survey by the Ombudsman for Estate Agents.