The Agent
Reflections on estate agency, today and in past times
Latest Article
4th December 2023
I n my opinion, there are three books that all Chartered Surveyors should read. “Property and Money Paperback” (1998), by Michael Brett, “Real Estate Investment: A Strategic Approach” (2022), by Andrew Baum, and “Measuring America” (2002), by Andro Linklater.
The first two are wonderful in placing real estate at the centre of the business world by providing insights into the importance of property to society and commerce. But the third, with its misnomer of a title – as it is not... Read More >
Recent Articles:
30th October 2023
"Is New York okay?"
That was the refrain I heard repeatedly on a recent trip back to London. Perceptions of New York have become profoundly negative in the wake of COVID-19; tales of urban decay and prophecies of an office market apocalypse Read More >
30th May 2023
Originally published in September 2020.
The answer is clearly no. I asked the question to get your attention and, perhaps, surface prejudice. It irritates me that property management or PM comes such a distant second to letting in the Read More >
30th May 2023
Originally published August 2017.
About 30 years ago I remember my stepfather, a well-known man of considerable standing, surprising me by telling me I was in a ‘gentleman’s profession’. OK, he was quite old, but amongst the next Read More >
30th May 2023
Originally published October 2020.
For those about to emerge from university and enter the world of property, a few words of advice.
As we enter 2020, I find myself engrossed in the new Star Trek series, ‘Picard’. Its central theme, Read More >
11th January 2023
This article was originally published in November 2020.
It’s all change in the residential property market as estate agency business models are reshaped and players come and go. Who will emerge as the winners?
A paradigm shift in the way Read More >
11th October 2022
Originally published June 2022.
Our writer set out to find out if this is actually true.
“Daddy, why are you writing about women’s boobs?” I turn puce as my 11-year-old stares me down. I stay silent and she repeats the question. Read More >
9th September 2021
Originally published September 2017.
This November I clock up 50 years as an estate agent - and what have I learnt or gained from this experience?
Well, I have tried alternative business options over the last five decades but still Read More >
8th September 2021
Originally published September 2017.
This November I clock up 50 years as an estate agent - and what have I learnt or gained from this experience?
Well, I have tried alternative business options over the last five decades but still Read More >
7th September 2021
This article was originally published August 2017.
About 30 years ago I remember my stepfather, a well-known man of considerable standing, surprising me by telling me I was in a ‘gentleman’s profession’. OK, he was quite old, but amongst Read More >
12th April 2021
How Lipton Rogers turned around the fortunes of an abandoned stump in the City of London.
This article was originally published in October 2019.
With a net floor area of 1.4m sq. ft, when 22 Bishopsgate is completed it will be the Read More >
5th March 2021
Over my 45-year career in the residential property industry I have gained an incredible amount of experience and have enjoyed some wonderful highlights but, along the way, there have been some darker moments where my resolve and resilience have Read More >
24th April 2020
The Stamp Duty and BREXIT issues that have beset the UK housing market for the last 3 years feel like a walk in the park (no pun intended) when compared to the current economic paralysis.
2020 felt like a new start, a chance to reset the Read More >
23rd October 2019
A planned new regulatory system aims to raise standards in a rapidly changing marketplace
Is competency finally going to be as important as competition in the UK residential estate agency market?
When in 1979 the Estate Agents Act Read More >
30th August 2019
40 odd years ago, Jon Hunt hit upon the idea of shaking up the Estate Agency business, creating an organisation that was very much out of his mould. I don't know him per se but by all accounts he is a dominant individual with an acute Read More >
3rd July 2019
Purplebricks has revealed its annual results for the year ending April 30 2019.
The hybrid agency has posted an operating loss of £52.3 million, up from £27.8 million in 2018. It does, however, report a UK operating profit of £5.3 Read More >
2nd July 2019
New figures released show High Street estate agents taking an increasingly large market share as online operators continue to crumble.
According to the fortnightly update from The Advisory, a consultancy that monitors housing market Read More >
27th June 2019
A new survey by one of the sector’s most respected lenders, Paragon, suggests large scale landlords are now a bigger force in the buy to let sector following the exit of some small amateur landlords.
Paragon’s survey is small - just 200 Read More >
20th December 2018
The battle between traditional high street agencies and their online competitors rumbles on, in a Goliath versus Goliath sort of way. While city investors don’t seem very keen on the former at the moment, the latter are not without their Read More >
29th November 2018
This is the first of a series of columns written by a residential estate agent about residential property. I have adopted a pseudonym because I am employed, and I would like, if necessary, to separate my views from those of my employers. I would Read More >
23rd November 2018
Recent news for those operating in the property market has generally been negative with the effects of weak transactional volumes, falling house prices, lack of consumer confidence and increasing regulation all causing businesses to reappraise Read More >
8th February 2018
A new generation now realised that what goes up can come down. 1988’s falls took until 1998 in London property to fully recover.
Lessons learned in London over that period included the fact that even well off people didn’t want to live in Read More >
2nd February 2018
Well, the year has got off to quite a start with my ego taking something of a hammering!
First off, The Property Chronicle titled me a ‘Veteran Agent’ (could they not have thought of a kinder description?) then I was described as ‘Old Read More >
4th January 2018
A question often asked: so, how much has the whole procedure of buying and selling houses changed and hopefully improved then? Well, frankly, it hasn’t at all.
On the plus side, we do have computers, better telephone systems, Read More >
1st December 2017
During the 80s being an agent still felt ‘less’ than working in the City. They had their own set of fireworks with Big Bang but at some point house prices started to become a talking point. They never had before and I remember conversations Read More >
13th September 2017
I’m not quite sure what it was that led to the emergence of the high end independent agent, especially in central London. For years, unless you were professionally accredited i.e. a RICS or ISVA member, you wouldn’t even have been considered Read More >
6th August 2017
E-commerce is the fastest growing retail market in Europe and North America. Online sales in Western Europe and Poland grew from £174.76 bn [€201.33 bn] in 2015 to £201.90 bn [€232.60 bn] in 2016 (+15.6%). In 2017, we expect total Read More >
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