Downturn sees QV shed staff

New Zealand's biggest valuation and property information company, Quotable Value, has shed 52 jobs in the past year, mostly as a result of the property market slump.

Chief executive of the state-owned enterprise, Bill Osborne, says 29 staff - 11 front line workers - were not replaced in the year and 23 were made redundant. Some of those who lost their jobs were part-timers.

This follows 16 non-replacements and four redundancies in 2007-08, Osborne says. Half the jobs lost have been valuer positions.

Osborne estimates that 60-65 per cent of the jobs lost were due to the market downturn, and 35-40 per cent because of productivity gains from technology improvements.

QV currently employs 256 full time equivalent staff.

Osborne hopes there will be no further job losses because QV believes the dive in property sales has gone as low it can.

Property sales have plunged from a peak of 14,500 sales a month in March 2007 to 3700 in January this year, he says.

"We are hoping the market stabilises now. There is a level of property turnover that has to occur for any market to operate. People have to move.

"We don't know what the number is but we suspect it's around 4000 to 4500 sales a month, and we think we are already below that.

"We think we are at the worst point in the number of sales transactions. At the same time we are diversifying our business and building other opportunities."

The SOE will release its half-year financial report this month. It recorded a pre-tax profit of $18 million in the 2007-2008 financial year.