HODSONS estate agents in Bicester is to close by the end of the month, while Andrews has announced 13 redundancies in response to a downturn in trade.

David Hodson, who founded Hodsons in 1970, said the Bicester office closure was partly because of the state of the market and partly because the lease was due for renewal.

He said most of the staff had been made redundant.

Ongoing deals are being handled by offices in Abingdon, Didcot and Wantage.

He added: "Fortunately, we are also solicitors and that enables us to be fairly strong compared with people who are just relying on estate agency."

Meanwhile, the staff cull at Andrews has taken place at offices in Abingdon, Botley, Cowley, Headington, Kidlington and Witney.

Spokesman Ronda Green said: "Staff losses focus around services where client interest is currently very low."

Countrywide estate agents announced the redundancies after being bought by private equity group Apollo LP in May last year.

Jones and Turner, in Cowley, closed earlier this year, but there were no redundancies.

Harwell property agent Stewart Lilly, national president of the National Association of Estate Agents, said: "The large companies, owned by chains, are finding the situation worse than smaller local companies, because they have higher fixed costs and a lot of managers who don't earn fees."