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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Auction Aimee’s progress
Aimee Rossiter has been promoted to assistant auction manager at SDL Bigwood.
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Purplebricks shares hit all-time high
Purplebricks shares hit an all-time high of £1.81p yesterday as City confidence in its hybrid model peaked, while shares in agents operating more traditional models such as Foxtons and Countrywide continue to struggle. Countrywide shares are still trading at around £1.75p, down by nearly three quarters on its 2014 peak price, while Foxtons shares are trading at 94p, down from £3.98p two years ago. Purplebricks launched in mid-December 2015 at a price of £1 per share and during the initial months of 2016 slumped to 74p before staging an eye-popping rally that saw it reach a peak of £1.75p as initial business results from the company were announced. The share price fell back in line with the rest of the industry as news on additional Stamp Duty, Brexit and a likely fees ban loomed, but then increased significantly during December after revealing total revenue growth of 159%. This week’s uptick in its share price is likely to be down to news from its recently-launched Australian operation, which a few days ago Purplebricks said was going well in Sydney and New South Wales, and that it had plans to launch in more areas down under too “We are confident that our proven success…
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Estate agent wins Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me
James Sawyer, who works at the Bury St. Edmunds branch of estate agent Whatley Lane, has proved that he is the host with the most, winning Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me competition. James produced a fine dining menu with wine pairing for each course. “I have a passion for cooking, enjoy watching the show, entertaining guests and meeting new and interesting people. Channel 4’s casting team called the office one day asking if I knew anyone who would be interested in competing… the rest is history,” he said. “I didn’t expect to pick up the £1000 cash prize, let alone be selected to go on it and made friends along the way too. Though each contestant was given £125 for food and drink, most of my winnings covered the cost of ingredients and copious wines on the night.” The competitors James had to cook for the three other contestants, wedding DJ Phil Swapping, American housewife Julie Schindler and tennis enthusiast Paula Brown, at his home but he says he did not expect to win because he though one of the others had done so much better, but his fellow diners thought otherwise. “I thought she had it in the bag,”…
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SDL Bigwood auction on the money
It was double your money time as the latest SDL Bigwood auction raised £8.8 million.
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KFH takes prime position in Bayswater
KFH has unveiled its brand new premises at 186 Queensway, Bayswater, London, with sales and lettings managers Paul Hyman and Jonathan McCormack overseeing the move.
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Leaders and Romans sign up to list all properties with Zoopla
Property Service Holdings (PSH), the parent company of leading estate agency brands Romans and Leaders, is to list all its properties on Zoopla. Until now Leaders, which is the largest independent estate agent in the UK, has listed the properties from its 120 branch network on Rightmove and Zoopla, while Romans’ 28 branches were only listed on Rightmove. But in May last year the two brands were brought together during a merger to create a £120m turnover company with a £35m war chest for further acquisitions. The announcement by the company means both brands will now advertise their combined inventory of some 40,000 sales, lettings, new homes and auction properties on Zoopla Property Group’s websites. The move ends speculation that PSH might have gone with OnTheMarket as its ‘second portal’. Peter Loverdos, COO at PSH (pictured, left) says: “We have been reviewing the property portal landscape for some time and as a result of the substantial marketing and innovative product ideas coming from ZPG, we decided that it is the right time to list all of our branches and properties with ZPG to the ultimate benefit of our customers. “We expect to expand materially over the next few years and need…
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Woods Acquires Palmer & Radclyffe
Woods, the South Devon estate agency group, has expanded with the acquisition of the BoveyTracey estate agency, Palmer & Radclyffe.
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Founding members kick off CIELA club for independent agents
A new membership club exclusively for independent estate agents is to go ahead following a meeting yesterday of 11 founding members, during which they all signed a letter of intent to begin inauguration of CIELA. The aims of CIELA – The Charter For Independent Estate and Letting Agents – are to unite independent agents against corporate domination, unfair practices and the online threat says Charlie Wright, CEO of property software firm Easymatch (pictured, left) and who had the initial idea for CIELA Wright has been extremely critical of online agents such as Purplebricks, and in an open letter to agents recently said they are “undermining the whole industry” and “exploiting vulnerable first-time sellers who are naïve to the challenges and difficulties involved in a successful sale”. Wright started his business life working as a broker on the Liffe trading floor in London before setting up his first businesses for agents; photos and floorplans provider Datography, followed by thebu2iness.com, which has become Easymatch. So far eleven agency businesses owners/managers have been signed up, each to take up a regional chair role within CIELA, with a further two places exclusively reserved for women. The group will meet again on 22nd February to…
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Third Oz city launch today for bullish Purplebricks
Purplebricks has today launched into a third Australian property market and says its business there is expanding faster than its initial launch in the UK in April 2014. Its new Sydney and central coast operation has just gone live with 20 local ‘property experts’ and an AU$5,500 fixed fee which, the company claims, saves sellers AU$15,000 off the cost of using one of the country’s traditional agents. Australia’s property market is a softer target than the UK’s. Agents there typically charge a 2.2% fee plus marketing costs of several thousand dollars,. Purplebricks initialy launched last year into Melbourne and Brisbane, followed by today’s Sydney announcement and later this year, Perth and Adelaide. The company is making much of its success in the UK to promote the Oz operation. Co-founder Michael Bruce (pictured) last week told local paper The Financial Review that the company was “playing a major role in changing the way real estate is sold in the UK and would do the same in Australia”. He also told various media outlets in Sydney recently that the UK’s traditional agents were ‘struggling’ compared to Purplebricks, picking out Countrywide and Foxtons as examples and claiming to be the UK’s largest estate…
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Countrywide results lift stockmarket price
It may be Friday 13th but Countrywide’s Chief Executive, Alison Platt, is probably feeling a little happier as their share price rose this morning following the group’s reported its income for the 12 months to the end of December. Listed as £737 million, it beat their 2015 figure of £734 million and the analysts’ expectations of £702 million. The figure was achieved despite falling volumes in house sales, through their agency offices, particularly in London. Countrywide (CWD.L) said that the volume of sales in London in the final quarter continued to be below 2015’s levels, resulting in a drop of about 6 per cent in the number of deals for the year. However, its lettings business saved the day, supporting sales revenue with strong activity across the country. Countrywide had issued two profit warnings for 2016, saying that it expected full-year market volumes to be 6 per cent lower for the full year. The group said volumes were likely to fall further in 2017. Countrywide is ‘encouraged’ Commenting on the Group’s performance, Alison Platt, CEO said, “It is pleasing to report modest full year revenue growth against the backdrop of a challenging residential sales market. Our Retail and London divisions were impacted by the…
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