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Latest property news
Hatched founder joins easyProperty as Head of Operations
Adam Day, the founder of online estate agency Hatched.co.uk has joined easyProperty.com as its Head of Operations, just 15 months after Hatched was bought by Connells. On his Linkedin profile Adam lists himself as “taking a break” in between leaving Hatched earlier this month and joining easyProperty, although in December last year Adam was on a recruitment for more Hatched agents, saying it was an “exciting time to join our business as we continue to build on the successes of previous years”. Adam (pictured, right) has joined easyProperty to set up the systems and procedures that will transform the website from an exclusively consumer-facing operation into the geographically licensed B2B offering that easyProperty CEO Jon Cooke describes as “the convergence of high street agency with online sales and lettings”. And Adam has his work cut out – easyProperty expects to relaunch in September this year. £60m deal with GPEA Adam’s arrival at easyProperty follows the £60m deal between the Guild of Professional Estate Agents and easyProperty to merge earlier this month and that 270-plus GPEA members have signed up so far to be easyProperty licensees out of a potential pool of 800. In return for a fee, easyProperty is licensing…
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Latest property news
OnTheMarket wins claim against Gascoigne Halman in long-awaited tribunal decision
OnTheMarket has won the Competition Appeal Tribunal case it brought against Gascoigne Halman after the agent, following its acquisition in October 2015 by Connells, refused to abide by OnTheMarket’s ‘one other portal rule’. After the ruling OnTheMarket Chief Executive Ian Springett (pictured, below) accused Zoopla of funding the action, and also said that he intended to recoup legal and other court costs from Gascoigne Halman, particularly so because “the manner in which our opponents conducted the case has caused us to divert considerable resources and management time”. Gascoigne Halman said during the hearings that its contract with OnTheMarket was in effect void because what it believed are restrictive clauses within it were in breach of Section 2 of the Competition Act 1988. These include the ‘one other portal rule’ which requires participating agents to only use two property portals, the ‘bricks and mortar rule’ prohibiting online agents from joining OnTheMarket, and the ‘exclusive promotion rule’ that prevents agents from promoting their membership of Rightmove or Zoopla. The legal process was triggered when Gascoigne Halman listed its properties on all three property portals in defiance of OnTheMarket. OnThemarket subsequently sought a judgement on the matter through the tribunal system to prove…
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Latest property news
First-time buyer frenzy
First-time buyer activity rose to 36 per cent of market activity in February...
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Latest property news
Connells Group pre-tax profits rise, helped by £17m ZPG shares sale
Agent giant Connells Group has today reported a strong performance for 2016 including pre-tax profits of £73.4 million, an increase of 17.4% on the year before. This includes £17 million gained from selling some of its shares in ZPG Plc last year. Until then Connells Group had been one of ZPG’s top ten major shareholders with 16.73 million shares held, a million less than Countrywide – the two were part of a trio of agents including LSL to sign strategic partnerships with what was then just Zoopla in 2010. But Connells Group is doing well even with the ZPG windfall taken out. The group, which includes Connells and William H Brown, Barnard Marcus and Peter Alan, says it sold 8% more properties last year, 5% more new homes, generated 44% more income from its land division and 19% more cash via its new homes team. Other indicators twitching wildly include those at its mortgage arranging business where income rose 18% based on a lending total of £8.2 billion and 10% more mortgages arranged. There were also rises in income for its conveyancing and survey and valuation businesses. “All parts of the business delivered a strong performance and, considered alongside the…
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Latest property news
As Connells’ new homes and mortgages businesses boom, what’s its magic formula?
Connells appears to have blown the Brexit cobwebs off its business following two key announcements. The company says that last year its network of offices, which includes Connells and Sequence branded branches, recorded a six per cent rise in new homes instructions and a five per cent increase in exchanges compared to 2015. It also says its 40-strong land team has increased returns from its land department by a third in 2016 and that it is optimistic about this year. “The fundamentals of the market remain strong – there is continued appetite for land to meet the demand for new homes, a pro housebuilding and pro homeownership Government in place, buyer incentives and good, competitive finance available,” says Connells Group Land Director Roger Barrett (pictured, left). “This, alongside the steady growth in new homes supply from national, regional and local house builders, will see a buoyant market where we will experience further growth in the total number of new homes sales in 2017.” It’s mortgage business has also been doing well and in 2016 recorded a 10% increase in the number of mortgages its arranged for customers compared to 2015, generating a loan book of £10.3 billion. One surprising figures from…
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Latest property news
Connells: performance tempered by Brexit volatility
Connells’ performance in 2016 was described by Group CEO David Livesey as, “somewhat tempered by Brexit volativity,” as the Group’s Q4 report showed activity levels were “influenced by a marketplace that was continuing to recover from some of the challenges of Q3.” However, while viewings were up, the number of offers made was down. Sales were also down by 2 per cent for the year, compared to 2015, but Connells said that it had been instructed on more properties, registered more applicants and seen another record performance in new homes sales. Land & New Homes Connells is doing well in the Land & New Homes sector, with a pipeline of 9,000 new homes. Group Land Director, Roger Barrett, said, “As predicted in our previous Market Report, sales moved forward in Q4 2016 by 15 per cent on the Q3 2016 performance. This improvement reinforced the underlying strength in the land and new homes marketplace and, as such, we completed a number of land transactions in Q4 where demand for short and medium term opportunities remains strong. “The new year has started positively, helped by the fact that new home registrations increased at the end of last year – 15,237 registrations in…
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Movers & Shakers
Connells adds 15 people to its land and new homes team
Connells Group has expanded its Land and New Homes division, appointing 15 new people.
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Latest property news
Connells’ expansion continues with three promotions
Connells Group has promoted three of its most successful regional business heads into newly-created national roles as chief executive David Plumtree’s aggressive business expansion plans continue during its 80th year of trading. Ian Fry, Giles Hart and Simon Arnes all hail from Sequence’s successful East and Central regional division, which they have grown into the company’s most successful one through a ‘collaborative approach to sharing knowledge, expertise and best practice’, the company says. Ipswich-based Ian was the region’s managing director while Norwich-based Giles has been its regional director. Both are now to be Group National Operations Directors while their colleague Simon Arnes, who was the region’s divisional managing director, becomes the Connells Group’s Estate Agency Operations Director. Connells is hoping the trio can replicate their winning formula across the whole company and grow the Group branch network and market share. “As well as recognising the talent within our company, these well-deserved promotions signal our commitment to strengthening the business and driving forward with further expansion,” says David Plumtree. All three of the promoted directors are long-standing Sequence employees. Ian joined the company in 1996 as a senior negotiator, Giles as a negotiator in 1999 and Simon as an office boy in…
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Movers & Shakers
Connells’ new Lettings Area Manager
Connells has announced the appointment of a new Lettings Area Manager for Essex and Suffolk.
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Latest property news
Connells says Midlands new homes sales have bounced back
Connells has reported a 12% year-on-year increase in sales for its Midlands new homes division (pictured, right) which, the company says, marks a return to confidence within the region following June’s Brexit vote. Its Land and News Homes team racked up a “staggering” 210 new homes sales between July and September this year. It’s an achievement which, says Regional New Homes Director Donna Smith, has been helped by a “pro-housing government, record low interest rates and competitive mortgage products”. “New homes sales are currently flying across the Midlands and we’re not experiencing any hesitancy from customers in the wake of the referendum decision. “In fact, we’re seeing quite the opposite and with continued lack of supply, new homes continue to perform well and remain much in demand.” Developments which have helped the team deliver such strong results include sites in central Birmingham, Oldbury in the West Midlands and Lichfield in Staffordshire. Also, recent figures from NHBC confirm a national post-Brexit bounce for new homes. Its figures show that the number of newbuilds registered to be built in the UK during August reached 12,500, an increase of 20% compared to the same month last year. These results are a vindication for Connells’…
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