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Halifax To Close 53 Estate Agency Branches

Wed, 27 Aug 2008
Halifax has announced 53 of its estate agency branches are to be closed by the end of the year as a result of the recent downturn in the UK housing market.

Halifax Estate Agents, a unit of Halifax owner HBOS, said the closures come in the wake of a 'significant decline' in the number of house sales in the past 12 months.

Up to 100 jobs will be lost and a further 450 employees, many of whom are mortgage advisers, will be forced to transfer to the firm's bank branch network, where they will work as in-house agents .

The group said the move followed a need to reshape the business in the current market conditions.

Halifax declined to give the location of the affected branches which are still in a process of consultation, but said that the changes will it allow it to focus more on its core markets in the Midlands and the North, where it operates 151 high street branches.

Halifax has become one of the British banks worst affected by the industry slump, with company profits falling by 70 per cent in the first half of this year.

Estate agents across the country have been hit hard by a combination of falling house prices and the credit crunch, which has seen mortgage lending dry up and the number of transactions fall.

Recent figures from the National Association of Estate Agents showed that the average UK estate agent sold just six properties in July.
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