Boomin was ‘a hub of messy ideas’ and ‘a risky venture’ – industry reaction

The demise of challenger portal Boomin has prompted mixed reactions from the property industry with some saying it was always doomed to fail.

It was announced on Monday that the company was calling in liquidators and blaming the economic conditions for the collapse.

Founder and CEO Michael Bruce issued a statement to customers saying: “Timing has not been our friend. Our move to a fee-paying, revenue-generating model from April 2022 coincided with the start of the economic slowdown and the drying up of funding.”

He went on to say that “uncertainty in the housing market” contributed to the liquidation of Boomin.

There is some speculation that Bruce, who founded Purplebricks with his brother Kenny, will now step into help the struggling agency as it grapples with falling revenue and profits.

‘Nonsense’

David Savill, owner of Robinson David Estate Agents in Gloucestershire, was sceptical that the economy was the cause of the company’s failure. In a Twitter post he said: “Sad to see Boomin go into liquidation, but blaming it on the economy is simply just nonsense, the system doubled a lot of an agent’s workload, and leads were never properly qualified.”

Jay White of Jeremy Jacob Letting Agents in west London agreed: “Boomin never had a clear business/customer message. It felt like a hub proposition of messy ideas.”

And so did Maurice Kilbride (pictured), owner of Maurice Kilbride Estate Agents in Cheshire: “Even with the Bruce’s business acumen Boomin was a very risky venture given they had pissed off a high proportion of those they needed to support it!”

Michael Day (pictured) of Integra Property Services said on LinkedIn: “Many across the industry will be smirking due to the marmite nature and history of the originators, but there are 65 staff and, no doubt many creditors, who will be concerned.”