GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS depicts the staff of a crooked Chicago real estate agency employing coercion, intimidation and more to obtain the leads necessary to sell plots of Florida swamp land to unsuspecting investors.

This week members of the audience at the West End production of this David Mamet drama may have felt a mixture of pity and amusement at these antics. Few in the stalls probably imagined, however, that not so dissimilar scenes are being played out in a few UK estate agencies – with potentially damaging consequences for the unwitting clients of these firms – and every other homeowner.

The housing market slowdown may have increased the supply of homes on estate agencies’ books and most firms are reporting that properties are taking longer to sell. But the boom brought an explosion in the numbers of estate agencies and these less-experienced newcomers are among those struggling for instructions. One South London operation is said currently to have just four properties for sale.

Few people will feel a pang for this outfit or any other estate agency, a trade for which the British have little sympathy at the best of times. But the repercussions of their desperate need for business could have an adverse effect on sentiment and on property prices.

An agent determined to secure an instruction will produce the most optimistic valuation. Certain estate agencies are notorious for this practice, whatever the state of the market, but it is most dangerous when the mood has turned from exuberant to reflective.

The inflated price will have to be cut when buyers fail to materialise. Such reductions send out the misleading message that the market is falling sharply, rather than merely proving that the initial valuation was unrealistic.

Various strategies can aid the sale of a house in a cooling market, as we explain on page 4. These include “doing a Madonna” – refreshing the decor and emphasising a different aspect of the property in the sort of reinvention associated with this star. But Peter Rollings, managing director of Marsh & Parsons, the estate agent, believes the key tactic is to “price the property correctly”. Any valuation must be supported with comparable examples of other deals recently struck, rather driven by the agent’s fear of the sack.

THE MIRROR LIES

Mirrored furniture increasingly features in the homeware collections of M&S, Next and others (see page 26). Its popularity is linked to a liking for Thirties glamour; there may also be lots of vain people fond of seeing themselves reflected in as many surfaces as possible. But the mirror, mirror on the wall and on the bedside cabinet drawers is also telling us something about the poky size of rooms in new-builds. Retailers say that owners of such homes are resorting to mirrors to give the impression of spaciousness.

In England and Wales, there are no minimum space standards for housing. The average new home in Denmark has 3½ rooms and an area of 1,474 sq ft; its British counterpart has 4½ rooms, but a paltry area of 818 sq ft, the smallest in Europe. The average flat built in the Edwardian era is 1,291 sq ft.

The increasing focus on such dimensions – set out in detail on www.swingacat.info – and the new tendency among buyers to pore over floorplans (which also highlight space) will add further pressure to the prices of poor-quality new-build apartments in city centres.

Most commentators agree that these homes are some of the most vulnerable to the downturn – if only because there is no more easy money for buy-to-let investors who were the most enthusiastic buyers of such developments. This week it has emerged that Paragon Mortgages, a big buy-to-let lender but now a credit-crunch casualty, could be forced to stop offering loans.

In the next few weeks, developers faced with falling demand for their city-centre schemes could be open to offers from bargain-hunters. But the new size consciousness could mean that a bijou apartment bought today for a price that seems to be a steal may always have a value that is on the small side.

THE WEATHER FORECAST WHERE YOU LIVE

Here is the weather forecast from Max Ziff of Humberts, the estate agent: heavy showers and possible storms for properties up to £350,000, with buyers no longer able to get mortgages of five or more times income; calmer skies for properties up to £750,000 with families staying put; light showers for properties up to £2 million, with City bonuses less bounteous, but sunshine for those above £2 million.

All meteorological predictions are prone to some error and this is unlikely to be an exception. However, there are already reports of a 25 per cent fall in the numbers of City buyers. Then again, this retreat may only be temporary, as $10 million apiece could be distributed at Christmas to a few of the best deal-makers – usually called, oddly enough, the rainmakers. anne.ashworth@thetimes.co.uk

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