JOBS MARKET:There have been substantial job cuts in the legal and estate agency businesses, writes PAT IGOE.

THE SLOWDOWN, indeed shutdown, in the market has had many negative effects beyond quiet building sites. One is the unprecedented level of unemployment among auctioneers and solicitors. Widespread white-collar unemployment is suddenly a reality in Ireland.

There are about 7,400 solicitors here with practising certs. One estimate suggests 1,000 solicitors are out of work. The image of the legal profession is not always one that attracts public support. The public think of the scandals of errant solicitors like Michael Lynn and Thomas Byrne, for which remaining solicitors may be paying dearly for years, and large sums earned by some solicitors in tribunals. But for the majority of solicitors, even in the good times, the picture is much less glamorous.

The first World War was to be over by Christmas. It wasn’t. It is obvious, particularly following last week’s Budget, that our property-led recession will not be over by Christmas either. Confirmation of further likely difficulties came earlier this month when the Central Bank forecast that the decline in the housing market was set to get worse. It sees the share of housing construction at just 3.7 per cent of GDP next year, compared with 12.7 per cent at the peak of the housing market in 2006.

The turnover figures are just not coming back up. Hard decisions must be made. Solicitors firms, from the big practices to the small family firms, are looking at their numbers.

Earlier this month, one of the big five firms in Dublin, William Fry, announced 17 redundancies and 10 per cent pay cuts for remaining staff. Over at A L Goodbodys, 45 voluntary redundancies are being sought. The firm’s 555 remaining staff are expecting a pay cut of 10 per cent from May. Earlier this month Arthur Cox Solicitors sought voluntary redundancies of up to 20 secretarial and support staff in its Dublin office. While this package has not been formally offered to solicitors, up to 20 solicitors have reportedly left the practice in recent months.

Other firms have also been quietly reducing their numbers and reducing incomes and hours worked for those remaining. There are reports of partners putting money back into their firms to stay afloat.

This month, the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association reminded its members of its helpline “Consult a Colleague”, where a panel of experienced colleagues is available to take confidential calls from solicitors on professional or personal difficulties.

With conveyancing all but non-existent, at least solicitors can seek work in other and possibly growing areas such as criminal litigation and civil litigation, according to one solicitor. But, among auctioneers, many of whom have known only good times, there is no such escape hatch. Reports of redundancies of between 10 and 40 per cent of staff are widespread.

Lisney and Sherry FitzGerald were early to acknowledge the downward trend last year when they announced pay cuts of 10 per cent for all staff. Short-time working and staff reductions followed, with Sherry FitzGerald initially shedding over 20 and reducing the hours of many of the rest. Savills is also believed to have significantly reduced its staff of 220.

Reduced three-day working weeks are also being implemented by some agents. Inevitably, Hooke MacDonald, who have focused on new houses and apartments, have also had staff cuts, reportedly by one-third.

Some agents have closed their doors. Vincent Clarkin, who headed up Clarkin Properties in Kilmacud, Dublin, decided to close: “There is just no property market out there right now and it is just impossible to pay all overheads with no sales happening,” he said.

With companies downsizing on a monthly, even weekly basis, there has been a knock-on effect on customers. Homeowners trying to sell have to contend with the possibility that their agent may be let go, before they have managed to sell their home.

A reader of The Irish Times wrote to complain that, since putting their house on the market last year, they have had three different agents handling the sale.

The last one exited the company a fortnight ago and since then they have switched to a smaller agency which offers, they hope, a more personal service.

Among remaining auctioneers, a new reality may be dawning, with disclosed reserves now emerging as a draw for buyers. Sole agent Terry Halpenny of Blackrock recently sold a house at Brusna Cottages, after auction, having disclosed a reserve €320,000. Before the recession, agents overwhelmingly did not disclose the reserve price, which was the minimum price that the vendor really wanted on the day of sale.

Would-be buyers were only given a “guide price” or more recently an “advised minimum value” which was often short of the actual sale price. This had no relationship to the hidden reserve price. Now, a bit of openness and disclosing the reserve price may be one novel way to tempt buyers back to auctions.

Pat Igoe is a solicitor in Blackrock, Co Dublin