Estate agent numbers hit record high
Despite the fact that many estate agents in the UK have not always enjoyed the best of reputations in business, rightly or wrongly, statistics today reveal that there are 562,000 people employed in the property sector. When you bear in mind that this is an increase of over 77,000 people over the last 12 months and is indeed ahead of the 2008 peak in property market employment numbers, this reflects the ever buoyant sector in the UK.
It is safe to say that these figures are the highest since records began in the late 1970s and even though the Internet is now a major part of the UK, and worldwide, property sector it seems that demand for experienced personnel is still growing.
The UK workforce
When you take into account the simple fact that the UK property sector was the fastest-growing employment sector in the UK in the second quarter of 2013, this just about says everything. We have property prices pushing towards record highs, we have record employment in the sector and in the short term at least there is more than enough finance available for first-time buyers through government assisted programs.
Quote from PropertyForum.com : “There is no doubt that the UK property market is on something of a high with prices in London dragging the whole of the UK into potentially dangerous ground.”
This now gives the UK government yet another problem with regards to the booming property sector in the short to medium term. If the authorities were to take fiscal action which would effectively stall the ongoing growth of the sector this would have a detrimental impact upon overall UK employment numbers at the time the government needs to maintain momentum going forward.
Is the sector out of control?
On the surface it does look as though the UK property sector has pushed too far ahead in a relatively short space of time. Despite the fact that many experts have voiced their concerns, investment in the property sector, both from UK and overseas investors, continues to push ahead. Perhaps the only blue sky in the short to medium term, if indeed we are approaching a level which is unsustainable, is that the UK economy is slowly expanding.
The stronger the UK economy, the more income for families and investors and the more job stability for the UK workforce, the more support this will give to the UK property sector. If you look at the basic figures relating to the UK property sector you could argument it has moved too far too quickly but, and this is a big but, the economy is starting to pick up and the gap between affordability and property prices could well start to reduce.
Conclusion
There were very few experts in the UK who even suspected such a massive increase in the number of people employed by the property sector. This ongoing rise now exceeds record levels achieved in 2008, prior to the worldwide property market collapse, and it will be interesting to see whether these numbers continue to grow.
Despite the fact that the basic property numbers in the UK, compared to the economy, suggest the sector is moving too far too quickly, is this really the case?