TWO of the country’s leading estate agents are close to sealing a merger that would create a company with annual revenues of about £35m.

Carter Jonas, a London agency, has been in talks with its rural counterpart Dreweatt Neate for several weeks, and the two are set to formally announce a tie-up.

A spokesman for Carter Jonas said: “Carter Jonas and Dreweatt Neate can confirm that, subject to completing due diligence, the two firms will merge on a date to be announced in due course. The merged firm will be called Carter Jonas.”

It is not clear when due diligence will be completed. Nobody at Dreweatt Neate was available for comment.

Headquartered in Mayfair, Carter Jonas has 55 partners and about 330 staff in 19 offices around the UK.

Dreweatt Neate, which is best known for its rural practice, has about 250 staff in 18 offices, all of which are in southern England. It has its headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire.

If the Dreweatt Neate name disappears as part of the deal, it would be the end of a brand that traces its roots back to 1759 when the business was founded by auctioneer Thomas Davis.

The slowdown in the housing market is putting a great deal of strain on estate agents, and forcing many to look at consolidation and ways of cutting costs.

According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, some 15,000 estate-agency staff could lose their jobs by the end of 2009 because of the slowdown in the sector.

The number of homes sold has fallen to a record low. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), reported that estate agents sold an average of only 15 properties each in the three months to June; that was the worst performance since 1978, when its records began.

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