Estate agent closes doors

Another estate agents near Stafford has closed, with a warning over "tough times" for the property market.

Heywoods has closed its Eccleshall branch with the loss of one part-time post. Last week, the Barbers office in Mill Street, Stafford, closed after the firm was put into administration. The administrators said it had expanded rapidly in recent years but experienced cash problems as business slowed.

Meanwhile estate agents Jaymans withdrew from Stafford a few months ago and is now handling properties in the area through its offices in surrounding towns.

Chris Stops is the managing director of Heywoods, which has seven offices across Staffordshire. He said Heywoods had decided not to renew the lease on the Eccleshall office in the midst of the credit crunch.

He said: "The speed with which the credit crunch has happened has caught everyone out. I don't think many people can see the end of it. We are in for a very rocky period."

This month, Stafford was also hit by the news that it is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country for home repossessions.

According to the latest statistics, repossessions rocketed by more than 70 per cent between April and June. In the three-month period, there were 120 new cases in the town, representing a 71 per cent increase on the same period last year.

However, not everyone in the property business is as pessimistic about the current climate.

Claire Midgley, sales negotiator with Chris Clark solicitors and estate agents on Eastgate Street, admitted that the market is currently very slow in Stafford.

She said the Government's stamp duty announcement, combined with the naturally quiet month of August, had contributed to the problem. But she said that as a relatively small business, Chris Clark was bucking the trend and doing well.

She said: "We are still selling and having new instructions. There are still people there wanting to sell." She said the firm had probably sold three out of 20 properties this month.