Plunging market forces agency branch closure

Last updated 19:48, Thursday, 31 July 2008

PLUNGING house sales have forced Smeatons Estate Agents into major changes, including the closure of its Maryport branch.

The company is also reviewing the future of its Workington office and is to concentrate its business on its Main Street, Cockermouth and Keswick offices.

Owner Bob Smeaton yesterday said that sales had dropped by about 80 per cent for the first half of this year and blamed the plummeting market on banks which he said had almost stopped giving mortgages.

The Maryport office, which employed one full-time and two part-time workers, was opened in 2001 by Mr Smeaton who has been an estate agent in West Cumbria for 30 years.

He said that in all that time the situation had never been as bad as now.

He said: “Official estimates suggest that transactions are running at about 40 per cent of last year but the reality is that our transactions are about 20 per cent of what they were.

“And it is almost entirely due to the fact that the banks are so reluctant to lend mortgages.”

Mr Smeaton said that the three Maryport employees had been made redundant.

The company is also investigating its options for the future of the Workington office.

Mr Smeaton said Maryport properties would still be displayed in the Maryport office window but would be served from Cockermouth.