THE ESTATE agency business is going through some very tough times right now, but Knight Frank in Dublin is suffering marginally less than others, it seems. Formerly Ganly Walters, the firm was taken over by Knight Frank in 2007 with directors Paul McDowell and Robert Ganly becoming proprietary, or equity partners in the international firm.
This arrangement proved to be a winner in the year ending April 2008 when 46 proprietary partners took home an average £780,000 each. However, fast forward a year, and the picture has changed considerably in line with difficulties in the property market worldwide. In the year ending April 2009, turnover has dropped considerably, profit has halved and the number of partners has been increased. Average earnings per partner were £169,000, a very substantial drop for the group’s top tier.
Though it may look like peanuts compared with yesteryear, it’s probably a very attractive amount when compared with average earnings in the Irish estate agency business these days, where directors of some firms are having to plough money back in, rather than take it out of, their businesses in order to keep things afloat.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6BDEAESQEJH4BHNFRSVZH3W4TM.png)