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Costa crisis hits estate agents

Estate agents used to be so pervasive in Spain that some authorities sought to stop them taking over tourist haunts. But according to figures published yesterday, in only six months the number of estate agents' offices has been reduced by more than half.

The 10 largest estate agents had 3,001 offices between them at the end of 2007, but now only 1,434 remain open. For sale or closed signs are a common sight outside former estate agents, particularly on the Costa del Sol or Costa Blanca, two regions popular with British buyers.

Two of Spain's major estate agents, Don Piso and Fincas Corral, have gone up for sale. Don Piso cut the number of offices from 400 last year, to 140. MC Inmobiliaria, another major agency, owned 218 offices last year, but now operates from 60 - a fall of 72.5%.

It is another symbol of the deepening crisis in Spain's construction sector after its decade-long building bubble burst. Spanish construction output fell 3.1% in June, according to figures from Eurostat, the EU statistics office.

The collapse has hit the Spanish economy. Gross domestic product grew 1.8% year on year in the second quarter, compared with 2.7% in the first quarter, according to the Bank of Spain.

With demand for homes falling, unemployment is rising, reaching a 10-year high in July of 2.43 million. Nearly two thirds of those out of work were building workers.

María Angeles Repilado, of Spain's General Workers' Union, predicted many unemployed building workers would pick grapes in France this summer, earning €8.71 (£6.95) an hour instead of €6 on building sites.

The mass closure of estate agents' offices may also be a symptom of the way the industry is changing. Gareth Milton, operations manager of propertyshowrooms.com, said: "Companies who had always focused on web-based activities without the massive overheads associated with a network of physical branch offices are the ones more likely to weather the storm."

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