Property firms 'may need a bail-out'

Estate agents in the UK may need to be bailed out by investors this year if they are to survive the downturn in the housing market, stock market traders may be keen to learn.

According to Bernd Stahli, an analyst at London-based Merrill Lynch & Co, the country's biggest property firms may need as much as £13.7 billion in order to restore their balance sheets.

"This looks problematic as there is a very real possibility that this money is not there to begin with," he commented.

Meanwhile, Ian Coull, chief executive of Segro, said that many businesses will be keen to benefit from the market upturn, when it eventually occurs.

"Real estate will be at the front of the queue for equity this year," he said.

Keith Crawford of KCB Pell Hunt said many of his company's clients seemed resigned to the property sector being recapitalised at the expense of shareholders.