With house-builders across the
The biggest fallout so far has been for the regional players, with Dickinson Dees this week announcing a redundancy consultation that is likely to see around 70 jobs lost across teams including conveyancing and re-mortgaging. The firm had already announced it was axing 17 staff from the same re-mortgage division, which works with clients including stricken lender Northern Rock, late last year.
The consultation comes on the back of the firm reporting a 16% dip in profits per equity partner (PEP).
Meanwhile, Halliwells and Shoosmiths, both of which have large real estate groups, have seen PEP drop by 22.7% and 19.7% respectively. The pair have also announced redundancy consultations with Shoosmiths last month, revealing that 28 jobs in its
City firms have not escaped the impact of the slump though; with both Macfarlanes and LG blaming the depressed property sector for their respective drops in profits. PEP at Macfarlanes fell by just over 2% to £1.1m while at LG it fell by 3.4% to £430,000.
Hugh Maule (pictured), managing partner of LG, said: “Results last year were broadly down or flat in real estate and there has been a definite slowdown in terms of the investment activity. Clearly there is a general concern about the state of the market.”
Ian Cox, head of real estate at Herbert Smith, said: “A practice that is not hedged towards the international or the distressed debt markets will suffer this year as I cannot see old-style investment picking up any time soon.”Will the top 50 stand up as the slowdown takes hold? Click here to have your say.
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