Estate agency group holds Christmas sale

The UK's largest estate agency group – Countrywide, has decided to deploy a strategy being used by the high-street stores, by holding an end-of-year sale.

The £1.65 billion three-day sale begins tomorrow after the group encouraged the owners of over 7,500 properties to reduce their prices by as much as 30%. Houses worth about £50,000 to £1 million-plus will subsequently be available through the company's 1,000 branches.

Countrywide, which owns approximately 30 estate agency brands, including Faron Sutaria; Bairstow Eves; Gascoigne Pees and Entwhistle Green, said that the aim of the group's Christmas sale, which has been several months in the planning, is to kick-start local property markets.

Included among the bargains offered by Bairstow Eves is a five-bedroom house in London's Muswell Hill, whose price has been knocked down by £174,000 to £825,000. At Entwhistle Green, a plot in Southport, Merseyside, is down 20%, while at Gascoigne Pees, there is a fifth off the price of a home in Oxshott, Surrey.

According to a spokeswoman for Countrywide, the group's homeowners did not need much persuading to lower their prices. She said: "They are committed sellers, eager to tie up deals before Christmas. Some are desperate to make the step up, they have seen the properties they want to buy go down in prices and so they are happy to reduce their own prices."

Other estate agents will be keeping a close eye on the sale to find out whether the discount scheme is one which ultimately proves effective.

Source: Times Online | Last updated: 10th December 2008

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