Foxtons
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Latest property news
Foxtons founder sells flats through former rival
If you’re wondering what Foxtons founder Jon Hunt has been doing with the £375 million fortune he amassed after he sold the estate agent to venture capital firm BC Ventures ten years ago, then the answer is – property development. Jon is currently selling a plot of land in Vauxhall, London that his property company Ocubis, which he owns through his development business Heven, recently gained planning permission for. But rather than sell it through his old firm the development site, which is near the MI5 building at 34-36 Albert Embankment (pictured), is being sold by one of his former rivals in the sales market, Strutt & Parker, it has been reported. Valued for sale at £50 million, the development is to include 166 apartments within two 25-storey towers but also include office and commercial units. Planning development The London Borough of Lambeth has granted detailed planning permission for the development, which will replace both a careworn Texaco garage and one of the Albert Embankment’s last Victorian warehouses, Vintage House. As well as the two residential towers, the site will eventually include 22,000 sq ft of commercial space and 1,500 sq ft of retail, including a café. The warehouse is…
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Leeds letting agent gets green light for unusual branch
For decades Foxtons lead the way in estate agent branch design with its signature shiny green signs, lounge-style sofas, drinks bar and funky desks. And for many rivals they irritatingly raised the bar of what the public expects of agent branches. But now Foxtons has a contender which has taken branch design to the next level and that, planners have said, will “raise the standard”. The company is Leeds-based student letting agent iFor Homes, which has just had plans for a novel take on the letting agency branch approved by Leeds City Council. Northern Eye UK, the parent company of iFor Homes, has been given permission to convert a Victorian Grade II listed building in the centre of Leeds (see above) into a hybrid café and letting agency branch (see left), as well as two apartments to be created upstairs. The new branch will be in the centre of city’s student area with both Leeds City College and Leeds Beckett University opposite. What used to be a seedy bar (see below) and separate residential dwelling are to be turned into a single unit (see right) and the façade of the building upgraded and refurbished. Plans seen by The Negotiator show…
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Why Foxtons’ results are even worse than its competitors
Proptech consultant James Dearsley (pictured, below) says Foxtons’ results revealed recently in its half-year results has been created by the legacy of its once might CRM system called BOS. The results, which were worse than many of its competitors within the struggling London property market, saw sales drop by a third. James says its IT system, created during the early noughties at a cost of £2 million, initially helped create Foxtons’ success by freeing up its talented but famously ruthless staff to concentrate on the sell, automating almost everything else years before most other competitor agents had developed anything similar. James, who used to work at Foxtons, says the company has “developed itself into a corner” by creating a system that no else uses or can plug into, and that while most other agents now use CRM systems that they can ‘plug and play’ the latest innovative products, Foxtons is left with an inward-looking bespoke system and left to play catch-up. A case in point is the lettings maintenance management software Fixflo which James’s company Proptech consult helped integrate into Connells’ and Countrywide’s systems, but which would struggle to be added to Foxtons’. “[This] leaves them at a competitive disadvantage…
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Former Foxtons agent launches rental app for sharers
A proptech company has launched in London offering a rental app for house hunting couples and sharers and an assisted property finder service. Called The Urban Collective, its unusual service is focussed initially on the London rental market but says it will soon expand beyond the capital to other cities and areas of the UK. The company’s founders, who include a couple with a background in Fintech and a former Foxtons lettings agent, say research suggests a third of house hunters who look for property as a group or a couple find the process much more painful than when doing it alone. The Urban Collective decided to create the UrbanCo app for the Apple’s IOS platform. It enables couples or groups to chat, comment and share links, images, videos and viewings feedback – based on the app’s own listings. Unlike traditional portal-style listings, the company says, its properties will be searchable by lifestyle options as well as price and location – such as proximity to gyms or tube stations. Sherpa service And for the wealthier end of the lettings market who are cash rich but time poor, The Urban Collective has launched a ‘Sherpa’ service. For a fee, wannabe tenants are put…
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Foxtons revenues down by 25% during Q1
Foxtons revenues across its three core areas of business fell during the first three months of the year compared to the same period of 2016, the company has revealed. Commission from sales sank by 44.5% from £20m to £11.1 million, lettings revenues were down slightly from £15.8m to £15.5m and mortgage broking fees fell by £500,000 to £2.1m. The company says the dramatic drop in sales revenue has been created by last year’s rush by landlords and second homes buyers to buy properties before the Stamp Duty increase deadlines. This has left a sizeable hole in its first quarter 2017 group revenues which dropped by 25% from £38.4m last year to £28.7m. But Foxtons’ board says this was “expected”. Sales commission Similar reductions in revenue particularly from sales commissions reported in its 2016 accounts were said by Foxtons chairman Garry Watts to be caused by a substantial reduction in transactions in London, driven principally by rising house prices, stamp duty changes and the EU referendum. The results have pushed the company’s strategy off-course somewhat – it’s stated aim to investors for some time now has been to target “higher-volume, higher-value residential property markets within London”. Its shares on the London…
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Foxtons brushes aside worries with two new offices
Foxtons has announced that it is to open two new branches in London next month, despite recent disappointing sales results. The company’s two new branches are both to be in traditionally football-focussed areas of the capital. These are Wood Green, next door to Tottenham Hotspurs’ ground at White Hart Lane, and Wembley. This brings the company’s total to 67 within London and, the company says, is in line with its ‘organic growth strategy’. Foxtons opened seven offices last year and these, like the latest two, have mostly been in London’s outer suburban areas where, the company believes, there are the greatest opportunities. Earlier this month the company reported that its profits for 2016 were likely to be down 45% and revenue down 11%. The company at the time blamed a ‘subdued’ market. This hasn’t dented confidence within the senior team, it would seem. Andrew Weir, Foxtons Sales Managing Director, says: “We are thrilled to be continuing our planned expansion with the launch of our new London offices. “Last year saw us proving our commitment to customer service by achieving an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 across all of our branches on Google reviews and the highest rating of…
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Foxtons reports profits down by 45% year-on-year
Foxtons has reported a dismal performance during 2016 including total group revenue down by 11% from £150m in 2015 to £133m, and profits for the year likely to be down by 45% year-on-year. Foxtons’ CEO Nic Budden (pictured) also warns that 2017 is likely to be equally painful for the company, saying that “should current levels of sales activity continue in the short term, it is likely that 2017 volumes will be below those in 2016”. The company’s trading statement released today blames the dramatic decreases in turnover and profits on significant drops in sales volumes as the market continues to be “subdued”. Its lettings revenues remained constant during the final three months of the year at £13m compared to the same period the year before, which Foxtons says it down to its “high levels of renewals despite lower levels of new tenant activity and some downward pressure on rents arising from increased stock”. “Despite a challenging year across the residential property markets, we have continued to make good progress in respect of our strategic initiatives, including building our presence in PRS and new homes, and leveraging our technology using data analytics and digital marketing to enhance our customer proposition,”…
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Foxtons branch fined for not explaining tenant administration fee
Foxtons has been fined £2,500 after a tenant administration fee it charges was found to be not adequately explained. The sanction follows an inspection by Trading Standards at its Stratford branch near the Olympic Park in East London. The London Borough of Newham has been cracking down on agents all over the borough over the past two years as part of its Fair Lettings Project, which has sent out reminders about agents’ “obligations to consumers” and inspection teams dispatched to check branches to “ensure they don’t rip off tenants or landlords”. Foxtons was visited in January last year by a local Trading Standards officer who found that a £425 tenant administration fee charged to prospective tenants was not properly detailed. Despite the error being pointed out by the officer, the fee remained unexplained at the branch for several months and a penalty charge of £2,500 was accepted by Foxtons. “The Newham initiative was introduced to ensure that all of the 200 or so residential letting agents in the borough are complying with legislation designed to stop tenants being exploited,” the council says. “This includes ensuring that fees are transparent, that deposits are protected and that agents have fair terms and conditions.”…
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In a nutshell: the property share price freefall
If the share price of the UK’s residential stockmarket-listed corporates are the bellwether of the industry’s future health then estate agents should be battening down the hatches. Investors in London’s stock exchange clearly think Brexit, the recent Stamp Duty increases and last week’s letting fees ban are going to make selling or renting homes harder and less profitable in the coming months. Share prices have dropped alarmingly. Compared to a year ago when Brexit was still only a possibility, Countrywide’s share price is down by 52%, Foxtons by 37%, LSL Property Services by 33%, Belvoir Lettings by 15.7% and Savills by 13.9%. Even the industry’s digital superstars, so beloved of the City in recent years, have taken substantial hits including Purplebricks (-31%) and Rightmove (-11%) although Zoopla, whose model has helped its share price grow since August, is only down by half a percent as is Belvoir Lettings. Savills has also done better during the recent bloodbath which UBS analyst Heidi Richardson says is because the stockmarket knows only 9% of its sales come from selling homes in the UK. Purplebricks survived the lettings fees ban much better than its more traditional competitors after rushing out a statement that the…
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Is latest Foxtons branch opening such a bright idea?
The 64th Foxtons branch opening in London and the home counties is about to happen, featuring its signature café-style layout, design and green frontage. But it’s not been plain sailing for the agent, which is busy readying the site for its inaugural opening; window displays were still empty and builders appeared to be still working on the site when The Negotiator paid a visit. Missing from the front is any of the signature illuminated signage that most Foxtons are famous for, after planners turned down the company’s original plans for the site (see below) although change of use was eventually granted. Lambeth’s Assistant Director of Planning & Development David Joyce said in May this year that the advertisement (as he calls the illuminated sign) would be an “unduly dominant feature in the streetscene” and “detrimental to visual amenity” which is possibly his convoluted way of say “too garish.” He also said the signage, which in the plans was fairly small by Foxtons’ standards, was “unlikely to preserve, protect or enhance the locally listed buildings and the neighbouring Albert Embankment Conservation Area.” The branch is also being created within what was the headquarters of homelessness charity The Big Issue, whose magazine sellers…
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