Agencies & People
News covering the businesses, activities, people and personalities in estate agency and letting agency and wider residential property industry.
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Purplebricks: all-time share price low after Oz CEO quits
Shares in Purplebricks have today dropped in price to an all-time low following the resignation of the company’s Australian CEO Ryan Dinsdale. Purplebricks issued a statement to Australian media yesterday revealing that it had been mutually agreed that he would exit the business on March 1st next year following a period of transition. He is to be replaced by the company’s global chief operating officer and former Rightmove star Neil Tavender, who was appointed in August to help sort out its troubled sales operation. Following the news, Purplebricks’ share value dipped down to £1.62p, the lowest it has ever reached since it floated on AIM in December 2015. Only six months ago it was at £3.79p. Oz business magazine The Australian Financial Review has reported that territory owners and agents were unaware of Dinsdale’s departure and that they had been told he was on annual leave. Final months Dinsdale, who until now had denied rumours he was considering quitting the company, has endured a torrid few months at Purplebricks. In June, after denying that its Oz business was struggling, one of its former territory managers then went public with an unflattering insight into its sales operation. Then in August figures…
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Gimme a break! Estate agents top list of ‘most stressed’ professionals
Read how a poll of UK employees at work has found that 86% of estate agents experience some sort of stress at work, followed by broadcasters and police.
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Leading NE estate agency sets up shop in new location after being rescued by family of founder
Read how leading North East estate agency Sanderson Young has moved to new premises in Alnwick after being rescued from receivership.
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Brexit blues? Drown your sorrows with estate agency branded beer!
Read how an estate agency and auctioneer in Coventry has launched its own brand of beers in partnership with a local brewery.
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Portico is first multi-branch estate agent to be admitted onto Airbnb co-hosting programme
Read how London agent Portico is first major letting agent in the UK to be admitted by Airbnb onto its Professional Co-Host programme.
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Proptech suppliers meeting today to finalise free-to-use Best Agent platform
Single branch agents will soon be able to compete with larger and better-financed rivals via a free proptech marketplace following a meeting at the Lloyds Insurance building.
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After closing six branches, has Foxtons finally turned the corner?
Read how Foxtons latest trading update reveals stabilising overall revenues after several years of reductions and also increased lettings revenue.
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OnTheMarket latest listings push signs up seven multi-branch agencies
Seven multi-branch, medium-size estate agents have signed up to OnTheMarket over the past four weeks, the portal has revealed. These are Michael Jones & Company in Sussex as well as Castles Estates in London, Churchill Estates in East London and Essex, Fraser & Co in London, Green & Company in the West Midlands, Saint Andrews Bureau in Cambridge and London and Thomas James in Nottinghamshire. After joining OTM, all of them now list with the three main portals and between them they have nearly 50 branches, additions which helped OTM reach 11,500 listing estate agency branches on 30th October. “Michael Jones & Company’s Managing Director, Mike Jones (left), said: “We are very pleased to have joined the portal and look forward to a successful and long-lasting relationship. It’s great to see the positivity surrounding OnTheMarket now that it has found more traction in the market. “This decision will significantly benefit our clients and business and we are proud to support the agent-backed portal”. OTM also now says its spread of agent sizes ranges from 300-branch franchised corporate Belvoir to ‘thousands’ of smaller agencies with one to three branches. “Helen Whiteley, Commercial Director at OnTheMarket.com (right), said: “This further recent progress…
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EXCLUSIVE: Agents’ Mutual and Gascoigne Halman return to court to fight it out again
Agents’ Mutual and estate agent Gascoigne Halman are to lock horns once more in the courts in two week’s time, The Negotiator can reveal. The Court of Appeal has disclosed that the two sides are due in court on November 27th for a three day hearing after Gascoigne Halman, which is owned by Connells, was given leave to challenge the original Competition Appeal Tribunal adjudication which took place in July last year. That found that Agents’ Mutual, which since the court case has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of OnTheMarket plc, was entirely legal in its pursuit of a then strictly enforced ‘one other portal rule’ which has since been dropped, and also its exclusion of online-only and hybrid agents and its listings’ ‘exclusivity’. The three judges also did not find that Agents’ Mutual had pursued any kind of concerted ‘boycott’ of Zoopla, as had been suggested during the original 10-day hearing. Agents’ Mutual “In July 2017, judgement was handed down by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in favour of Agents’ Mutual and against Gascoigne Halman Limited on all competition issues; the One Other Portal rule was upheld as lawful and enforceable and Agents’ Mutual was awarded £1.2m as an interim payment towards…
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Estate agency branch closures accelerating, high street report reveals
Read how the number of estate agency branches closing has accelerated during the first six months of the year, research by LDC reveals.
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