Chairs gather dust as home buyers stay away

The post is piling up inside the offices of the Property Bureau, one of 12 estate agents on a 100-yard stretch of Islington's Upper Street.

Sorry, make that 11 estate agents because the Property Bureau — "est 1988" says the sign — has recently shut, the latest victim of the credit crunch. The computers are still there but the chairs and desks are empty, gathering dust. On Islington Green, just around the corner, Evans Baker estate agents has also closed. Further up Upper Street, Dukes of Islington has gone the same way. Three estate agents closed in the space of a few hundred yards is a grim evidence of the impact of the financial crisis on London's property market.

There isn't much more room for optimism among the estate agents still in business. "If you went around the area now I would defy you to find one sold board on any road," admits Paul Siani, owner of Anthony Garfield & Co. His sales are down around 70 per cent; the properties he sells in a month can be counted on one hand. "I have never known it this grim," he said. "This is definitely the worst it has been."

But Mr Siani is convinced he will survive. He has other business interests — it's the big estate agency chains with their flash cars and glossy brochures to sustain he really worries for. At Foxtons' expansive offices on Islington Green, most of the brightly coloured chairs remain empty although it's a good place to get a free Coke. A couple of customers wander in over 20 minutes.
At Hamptons International, the only person to come during my 15-minute visit is a woman who speaks little English and is looking to rent accommodation while she is on benefits.

Hamptons director Gina Mackenzie is remarkably upbeat; she is grinning from ear to ear. "It's a bloody miracle," she says, "I have had seven properties under offer this week. It's phenomenal." The week before her office sold two. To put it in context at the peak of the market in May last year, Hamptons in Islington was selling around 35 properties a month at an average of price of £635,000. Now the average is down to £600,000.

Intriguingly, half her buyers this week are foreign, two of them Italian. The euro is strong, prices are down 20 per cent and Europeans can spot a bargain. The problem for estate agents of Islington — and elsewhere in London — is the locals don't share their confidence.