Big players recruiting staff again in battle for market share while smaller firms struggle

Leading estate agencies are recruiting more people to fight for bigger market share, bucking the trend of 'fat-trimming'' in the overall economy.

Centaline Property Agency, Midland Realty and Ricacorp Properties said they hired more than 800 workers last year, while the market took on about 2,000 people.

However, players said some licensed agents would not renew their licences because they had yet to pass the qualification examination and were discouraged by the deteriorating business environment.

According to the Estate Agents Authority (EAA), there were 16,125 licensed agents and salesmen at the end of December, up from 13,651 practitioners a year earlier. This meant 2,474 newcomers joined the industry during the year.

The number of practitioners was still far below the 19,991 when the licensing system was introduced in January 1999, with a net loss of about 4,000 jobs in the past three years.

Most agents set up before the licensing system became effective were due to pass qualification examinations to renew their licences by the end of last year. Analysts said EAA's December figure was not up to date and a clearer picture on the number of agents remaining in the business would emerge only when the January figure was out. EAA did not return calls for comment.