The London Tube stations with the most estate agents nearby

Door-to-door: the capital is brimming with estate agents, as this row in Camden shows
Jeremy Selwyn

More than 200 new estate agency branches have opened on London’s high streets over the past year despite the sharp downturn in properties for sale, according to research.

There are now 2,881 estate agencies in the capital — more than the number of independent butchers, greengrocers and fishmongers combined.

The total is up by 220, or 8.3 per cent, on 12 months ago and represents more than two branches for each of London’s 1,200 town centres, according to the statistics compiled by online property portal Rightmove.

All but one borough — Enfield — saw increases in the number of estate agencies last year and the biggest rise was in Westminster, where the total shot up 27 per cent to 228. Islington was second with a 26 per cent rise, followed by a 16 per cent surge in Hammersmith and Fulham.

The Tube stations with most estate agents within a quarter of a mile

Walthamstow18

Borough18

Wimbledon17

Ealing Broadway17

Canary Wharf17

Turnham Green17

Balham 15

Notting Hill Gate14

Camden Town12

St John’s Wood11

Source: Rightmove

The relentless march of the estate agents comes at a time of sharply falling home sales transactions. In the first eight months of last year there were 14 per cent fewer sales, according to figures from the Halifax.

However, the lost commission has been more than recouped by fees from the booming lettings side of the business as “generation rent” tenants are forced to defer getting on the property ladder.

The more concentrated clusters of estate agencies are in Walthamstow and Borough, where there are 18 within a quarter of a mile of the Underground station. In Wimbledon, Ealing Broadway, Canary Wharf and Turnham Green there are 17 within in a quarter of a mile radius of the local station.

Alex Gosling, chief executive of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, which commissioned the figures, said: “It’s impossible to walk down a local high street in London now without passing an estate agent’s window, but Londoners will still be surprised to know there are almost 3,000 estate agents in the capital.”

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