Top 60: Agents gain £260m

Move over Savills, the top agents have a new leader. Rather than wait until next year to see how the agency landscape is changing, we asked Jones Lang LaSalle and King Sturge to combine figures for each firm's most recent financial year, producing a giant with turnover of £352m. Some £137m of this came from King Sturge. The two firms would have had a joint £301m turnover the previous year.

What is certain, is that the top 10 are taking a bigger-than-ever share of the market, now accounting for 72% of the turnover of the top 60 firms, up from 69% last year.

"The separation of the big global players and the rest continues," says Andrew Gould, chairman of JLL's England business. "The recession has enabled some to pull ahead significantly in terms of market share and client relationships."

Even with Capita stripped out, the same group of firms that made up last year's top 10 saw a collective growth in turnover of more than 10% (16% when Capita is included) - despite DTZ's 12% fall.

Below this level, recovery is slower. This is particularly evident in the larger mid-size group immediately below the top 10 (BNP Paribas Real Estate down to Montagu Evans), which saw a collective rise in turnover of just 2.4%.

That said, many firms outside the top 10 pulled in significantly more cash this time. Colliers International UK, Eddisons, CVS UK, Aitchison Raffety, GCW, Beauchamp Estates and the Lorenz Consultancy all reported turnover increases of more than 10%.

There is also some optimism that consolidation will create opportunities for smaller businesses. "The creation of an almost monopoly of global corporate advisers may not be considered attractive by all clients," says Richard Fletcher at Glenny.

However, it is telling that 45% of firms say they are open to the idea of a merger or acquisition in the next year.

... More on the Estates Gazette Top Agents 2011 Survey

By Julia Cahill (Published 23/09/2011)