Every time I talk to the estate agents handling the sale of my house they try and sound upbeat.  Each prospective purchaser they bring round is "on the verge of making an offer" – or so they say.

But that’s not the story I get from the press.  It gets bleaker by the day.  And today’s news is a shocker.

The latest prediction is that no less than 4,000 estate agents around the country (out of a total of 12,000) will be bust by Christmas!

Experts are predicting an estimated 45,000 repossessions, 20,000 job losses in the City of London and a rise in mortgage repayments for around three million households.  

Interestingly, Foxtons is reported to have seen dozens of staff leave because they aren’t making money through house sales. 

A Goodbye Blighty reader has informed me today that:

I'm down in Basingstoke, and my local newspaper has a front page announcing that around 4 to 5 estate agent offices have shut up shop in the centre of Basingtoke town centre. I've lived here for ten years and that's unheard of.

And to add to this grim news, I've heard on the grapevine that the “word on the street” is that two estate agents in Chiswick have called in the Receivers already.  I don't know which, but I have it from reliable sources that this is the case.

It's enough to give me sleepless nights!!