Former Connells director closes shop

Difficult market conditions have forced the closure of the offices of Buckinghamshire estate agency Integra Property Services, owned by a former director of Connells.

Michael Day, who is also the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Chalfont St Peter, told his local paper that he had been unable to carry on. He said he would not be surprised if half of all estate agents in the UK close within the next 12 months.

His premises are now shut but and he has passed his listings to Roberts Newby, in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.

Day set up Integra four years ago after leaving Connells, where he had been in charge of the IT. Integra had won a clutch of awards but now Day will concentrate on consultancy work and land assessment.

Day said: "You've only got to turn on your television or read your newspapers to realise how bad the housing market is at the moment. Across the country, people are choosing not to move house, and when you are relatively new company like us, it is very, very difficult to continue because we simply don't have deep enough pockets.”

He added: "A succession of appalling government policies have caused the industry serious problems and I felt that now was the right time to close.

"The business did not go bust, but it was too difficult to continue as it was, so I thought that the best thing for it would be to sell it to Roberts Newby as they are very well established in this area."