Has Rightmove had it's day in Spennymoor?

I'm just looking at the Rightmove page for estate agents in Spennymoor, and there are only 5 listings-

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/estate-agents/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E1241

There are Dowen and 2 listings each for Robinsons and Livin.  Livin have no sale properties at all and no lettings properties in Spennymoor, as of today, 16th October 2014.

So this leaves 2 residential sales estate agencies advertising on Rightmove in Spennymoor.  Which leads back to the main question - has Rightmove had it's day in Spennymoor?

There are a handful of outside agents, particularly operating at the top end of the market in Tudhoe Village, but the bulk of the everyday market is dominated (on Rightnove at least) by Robinsons and Dowen, as you would expect.

So, I'll have a look at the reasons for the relative lack of estate agents in Spennymoor, compared to other similar-sized towns.  Since Martin Currington went, and Reed Rains closed their last office, the town has seen a duopoly in terms of the majority of sales of the everyday market - the bulk of properties that lie within Spennymoor.  This has come about due to a number of reasons.  There has been widespread dismay and negativity towards the town centre in Spennymoor, particularly the precinct.  This will have put off potential estate agents from opening a High Street office in the town, as the footfall drops off and people begin to move their shopping trips to the edge of Spennymoor - Asda, Home Bargains, Lidl and Aldi.  There is also competition from the new out-of-town shopping park at St Helen Auckland and a more wholesome shopping experience in Durham City Centre or one of it's out-of-town retail parks.  This immediately reduces a potential investment from a new estate agent, where they may spend a lot of money to establish a presence and then find that the footfall is not there.  Add to this the general low growth in house prices since the end of the recession, and a large Reed Rains office still standing empty, and you can understand a reluctance to locate here.

Bishop Auckland is showing 10 sales estate agents, and 15 agents in total, Shildon is showing 2 agents, Barnard Castle shows 4 estate agents, Darlington has 31 and Durham shows 34.

Now choice doesn't necessarily mean that you will get a higher standard of service; and the fact that there are fewer estate agents doesn't necessarily mean that the agents are of a lower standard.

As a standard seller and buyer of property you will probably only experience the services of an estate agent every few years.

However, 2 estate agents taking the majority of the business is probably not in the very best interests of sellers of property in the town.

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