Organisers pull plug on Agency Expo

Agency Expo, formerly known as the Property Computer Show, has been cancelled for this year.

The organisers, VCM Events, say it is merely taking a holiday and it will be back in 2010. They blame “the perilous state of the UK residential property sector rendering the industry uncertain about its prospects for the coming year”.

It is known that IT suppliers to estate agency have struggled, mirroring the industry itself, and that not all last year’s exhibitors had re-booked their stands.

Exhibitors said they understood the decision to cancel this year’s exhibition, which was due to be held in October.

Mark Goddard, managing director of GMG Property Services which owns Core, Vebra, CFP and Thinkproperty, said: “When the organiser approached us with the suggestion of having a year off, this made immediate sense and will enable us to divert a greater proportion of our budget to the areas more in demand.”

Nigel Poole, of Eurolink, said: “I’m disappointed in one sense as Agency Expo is the lifeblood of this industry – a great opportunity to meet existing and potential clients. However, this decision will help Eurolink apply more focus to our priority of supporting the existing customer base during the coming year.”

Event director Henri Cash said: “Ironically, feedback from last year’s show was very positive, but the market’s forecast for the coming year is very downbeat with no sight of an upturn for the next 12 months. Consequently, we made this announcement as soon as we could, so that our customers could plan for the coming year.”

Current plans are for the event to return in October 2010.

Industry commentator Mike Griffiths, of software firm Expert Agent – not an exhibitor –  said: “The current slowdown has hit the estate agency software suppliers hard too.”

He said that some new products had not launched as expected, that Expert Agent itself was offering a 60-day trial, and others had reduced their entry costs.

The difficulties being experienced by VCM Events are not unique as agents reduce or cancel their spending power, meaning that suppliers cannot justify advertising or marketing costs.

It is understood that one trade magazine missed an issue deadline in January while another has published to time, but offering only 12 pages.