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There is one group of people I hold responsible for the Credit Crunch (a term now deserving of capitalisation).

Not the bankers.

Not Gordon Brown.

Estate Agents.  These SLK/Mini Cooper driving failed mobile phone salesmen are to blame for the downturn in the global economy.

Say you have a house worth £50k. An estate agent putting a value on this property would, if their commission were 2%, receive a grand from a successful sale.  But what if s/he wanted a bigger wad of cash for their “work”?  Simply increase their valuation of the property.  Do this with all properties and you’ll generate huge bonuses for yourself and your colleagues but at the cost of people borrowing more to pay the mortgage. Multiply this increased borrowing to pay for over-priced property and you’ve got a problem for the banks holding mortgage bonds in lieu of actually cold hard cash. 

Very few other professions come close to this degree of self-serving manipulation of their markets.  The closest other example I can think of is the addictive additives to cigarettes – all the better for the manufacturers if they can keep the consumers addicted.

I only hope that the collapse of the housing markets leave the estate agents having to sell their expensive clothes and sign on.  Good riddance.