Considered by many to be “The Bible of Commercial Property”, for the best part of 200 years, Estates Gazette has provided essential news, insights, and market intelligence for generations of property professionals. Offering accessible insights to everyone from seasoned investors to industry newcomers, it was a publication that could be found on the shelf of your local newsagents. Thumbing through the magazine was part of our weekly routine.
So, like many others in the commercial property sector, I was shocked last week by the announcement that the Estates Gazette (I have never become used to calling it “EG”) will cease to exist in 2025. A short announcement on EGi blamed the closure of a publication on “the headwinds that have struck the whole of the commercial real estate industry.”
Whatever the reasons behind the closure, its impact on the commercial property sector will be profound.
A legacy of leadership in property insights
Over the past two decades, Estates Gazette has evolved from a magazine into an online, subscription-based platform, where it has faced competition from Property Week, CoStar, and more recently, Green Street News, and other titles. While this shift aligned with industry trends, it created barriers for casual readers and smaller businesses, limiting its reach and accessibility. Competition combined with declining advertising revenues and the necessary paywalls limited its reach and, despite its editorial excellence and popular events, the publication struggled to maintain dominance in an increasingly fragmented market.
What Estates Gazette’s closing means for the industry
Estates Gazette's closure is not only a tragedy for all those who work for the publication but for the industry as a whole, and it will leave a vacuum in the property sector.
While its demise reflects the challenges facing traditional media, it also raises questions about transparency within the real estate markets and has implications for everyone looking to promote property assets and their businesses. Industry professionals will have fewer platforms for independent news, data, and publicity. Moreover, without Estates Gazette in the market, a potential monopoly in real estate transaction data could emerge, which would be bad for the industry.
For property businesses, the loss of a leading news provider means that the challenge of obtaining visibility will intensify.
The closure of Estates Gazette is undeniably a loss for the property industry. However, its closure also reflects a moment of transformation. This moment offers an opportunity to rethink how we communicate, promote, and connect in the property sector. While its legacy will be remembered, the future will belong to belongs to those who innovate and adapt.
At the end of January 2025 it was announced that The Mark Allen Group had finalised the acquisition of key media assets of EG (Estates Gazette), marking a new chapter for the iconic publication.
As part of this acquisition, the 166-year-old title has reverted to its historic name, Estates Gazette, with the first issue under new ownership published on Saturday, 1 February 2025. This restoration of its original branding is a significant step in revitalising one of the most respected names in business-to-business publishing.
Under the editorial leadership of Tim Burke, the publication will undergo a complete relaunch on 5 April 2025.
A key part of this revitalisation will be the launch of a new subscription-based website (www.estatesgazette.co.uk). The website will provide subscribers with news coverage, legal insights, in-depth features, and analysis of the UK’s commercial property market.
Mark Allen, Executive Chairman of the Mark Allen Group, expressed his enthusiasm for the acquisition, stating: “Our aim is to return Estates Gazette to something approaching its former glory. It was unconscionable to believe that such a brilliant brand as Estates Gazette could ever die.”
Read the full announcement here: News Release
