House Simple
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Latest property news
High street agents regaining ground from Purplebricks, report claims
Figures from The Advisory based on Zoopla data reveal the extent of Purplebricks' dominance of hybrid sector, but traditional agents are fighting back.
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Latest property news
Are the online-only agents gaining traction?
After reading the criticism of online-only agents by their traditional counterparts on Twitter it’s clear that much of the industry dislikes and fears the way these digital ‘disruptors’ do business. High profile operators such as Purplebricks, Easyproperty, emoov and House Network regularly feature in the national press and, helped by their extensive PR outfits, are hard at work persuading the public that online-only agents are the future. Research by The Negotiator into the market reveals a different picture. The online-only agents have a fair way to go yet before they can claim to be a major threat to traditional agents, industry data reveals. With the exception of hybrids (i.e. staffed but without high street branches) such as Purplebricks and YOPA, they have yet to gain a significant foothold in the market. There are 21,925 properties currently listed on Rightmove by online or hybrid agents which is 4.03% of the market based on Rightmove’s current listing of 543,612 (minus the online agents). Purplebricks dominates the online sector with 44% of all listed properties listed followed by HouseSimple (12%), emoov (9.8%) and Easyproperty (7.2%), Housenetwork (6.4%) and YOPA (5.5%). Most of the smaller online agents including recently-launch Settled, which lists 316 properties for sale, have the same inventory of a five to…
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Housing Market
The growing supply-demand imbalance is pushing up residential property prices
Residential property prices look set to increase further this year, as demand from buyers continues to heavily outstrip the supply of homes coming on to the market, the latest residential market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has revealed. The report shows that while 44 per cent more chartered surveyors saw prices rise in July, the supply of homes coming onto the market continued the drop with 22 per cent more surveyors reporting a decline in fresh instructions. Furthermore, the shortage of housing inventory worsened further during July, with the average volume of homes for sale per surveyor falling to an all-time low. As a result, all areas of the UK are now expected to witness property price growth over the next 12 months, with the greatest level of confidence currently being seen in East Anglia and Northern Ireland. RICS expect home prices to be pushed higher on the back of the growing supply-demand imbalance, with 41 per cent of members expecting prices to continue to appreciate over the next three months. Increasing prices does not appear to have deterred buyer interest, with new purchaser enquiries growing for the fourth consecutive month, with 25 per cent of…
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