Michael Bruce
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Latest property news
Purplebricks CEO bats off criticisms over TrustPilot reviews
Michael Bruce has said he is proud of the company’s 27,000 TrustPilot reviews despite recent problems with its listings on the online business reviews site. This includes most recently that reviews were removed by TrustPilot after Purplebricks mistakenly invited UK customers to review on its US listing on the site. The comments are made in this morning’s Purplebricks trading update ahead of its Annual General Meeting today at the offices of its PR firm. TrustiPilot reviews The company has also been criticised for its aggressive attempts to get TrustPilot reviews of its service removed that it considers unverified or not genuine. Despite these difficulties, the company says it is on track to reach its £80m revenue target set in June within its 2016/2017 final results. And Purplebricks says its revenues for the first six months of its financial year, which began on 1st May, are already likely to be double those of the previous year and that it has increased the number of Local Property Experts from 540 to 640. This includes three LPEs in South East Kent who are all related – couple Julian and Sarah Hunt and their daughter Joanna (pictured, above), highlighted by Purplebricks. Purplebricks also says…
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Latest property news
Purplebricks shares drop by 6% following BBC investigation
Shares in hybrid estate agent Purplebricks dropped by nearly 6% following the BBC’s Your and Yours programme in which the company’s CEO Michael Bruce defended claims that it had made misleading claims to customers. Following the programme, which was broadcast at a 12.15pm yesterday on Radio 4, the Purplebricks PLC share price dropped from a high of £4.78p to £3.92p before rallying at 4.38p. Purplebricks’ share price has been dropping since July 24th when it peaked at an all-time high of £5.13p, but today has been one of the more dramatic drops, dipping by 5.77% or 26.9p in one afternoon. On 5th July Purplebricks faced criticism from the Advertising Standards Authority following a complaint from West Sussex estate agent Arun Estates, which had complained to the ASA about ‘fees saved’ case studies on the Purplebricks website which it believed were misleading under ASA advertising codes. The complaint was upheld. During the You & Yours programme presenter Winifred Robinson claimed the hybrid estate agent has been making “exaggerated claims that it’s already been banned from making by the advertising regulator” in emails to existing and potential customers seen by the BBC programme Watchdog. Purplebricks has been censured six times over the…
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Latest property news
Purplebricks taking market share off traditional agents, it says
Hybrid agent Purplebricks has published an upbeat summary of its most recent year of trading revealing increased revenue, number of Local Property Experts, market share, brand recognition and 2.5 million visits to its website every month. Purplebricks also says it sold property worth £5.8bn with a further £1.008 billion in the pipeline, and sells a property every nine minutes. The company also makes some punchy predictions for growth, and says it will double its turnover to £80m during 2017/18. But crucially for its high street competitors, the company claims its aggressive ‘commisery’ marketing campaigns have helped enlarge the total market share of all homes UK that are sold using hybrid and online-only agents like Purplebricks, although it doesn’t give any figures. This has come at a heavy price. At £14.4 million its marketing represents are half of its £24.2 million gross profits during 2016/17. More commisery? Purplebricks also says it is due to increase its advertising in the UK by £3.5 million during the next financial year. But despite the huge cost of TV advertising spend, Purplebricks’ UK operation squeaked in with its first operating profit at £0.2 million, although Australia lost £6.1 million and the US £100,000. “This has…
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Latest property news
‘California calling’ for Purplebricks US launch
Purplebricks has revealed that its first launch in the US is to take place in California later this year. In February CEO Michael Bruce announced that he had raised £50 million from the City to set up operations in several US property markets in a bid to take a slice of the country’s £56 billion commission cake. Purplebricks hired former proptech start-up figure in the US Eric Eckardt (pictured, left) to head up its US business, who says he is targeting California first because of its strong housing and economic fundamentals. “Purplebricks is launching in the US with a distinct offering which aims to offer a better deal for customers and a compelling opportunity for highly skilled, experienced Local Real Estate Experts,” says Eric. The state has the highest number of transactions within the US, according to the California Association of Realtors, and generates commissions each year of £11.5 billion. US roll-out Once it has a foothold in California, Purplebricks says it will then roll-out its offering across other US states, which are likely to include other high-transaction states such as Florida, Texas, Arizona and New York. Purplebricks is now putting its considerable resources into seeking out real estate agents across…
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Has Purplebricks own ‘commisery’ report backfired?
Purplebricks has moved into attack mode once more and produced a ‘commisery’ report that it says proves traditional agents are “out of touch, out of date and leaving millions out of pocket”. But it’s hard to find much data in the report to back up this contention. The report also appears to have avoided asking respondents what they expect to get for the much reduced fee that Purplebricks charges compared to traditional agents. Nevertheless, the report contains some worrying research for agents. This includes how only 5% of those buying or selling are concerned whether an agent has a high-street office, that house sellers are becoming more aware about alternative selling models, and that 68.9% of the public now know that they don’t have to “fork out” a percentage commission on the value of their property. It also says that the average commission among agents is 1.5% excluding VAT or £3,929 per sale. But the survey results don’t conclusively back up Purplebricks’ contention that traditional agents are out of date. 35% annoyed by cost The company talked to 1003 respondents three months ago, of whom 35% said they were annoyed by the cost of using an estate agent, but only 11.37% said…
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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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Latest property news
Brexit vote has helped us, says Purplebricks CEO
Purplebricks CEO Michael Bruce says the uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote in June has been an opportunity for the company, which released its results this week. Speaking during an interview with London-based website DirectorsTalk, Bruce suggested that he saw “Brexit as an opportunity to grow our market share and get out there an educated the UK consumers that the cost of selling your house is too high, you’ve been paying it for too long, and that the unfair commission based model agency is not the one that you should choose”. “We have been very pleased to see that the UK consumer is making that choice, and that there is a seismic change happening in the estate agency [sector] and we’re at the forefront of that change – and we’re looking to capitalise on it.” The comments come after Purplebricks yesterday reported its first profit of £300,000 as well as a 119% increase in the number of Local Property Experts joining the company over the past six months. “This shows that more and more people from the industry want to join Purplebricks to offer a better quality of service,” says Bruce. “It’s why we’re the most positively reviewed estate agent in the…
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Housing Market
Strewth! Purplebricks launches in Australia
It is two years since hybrid estate agency Purplebricks launched in the UK and since then the company has recruited more than 300 Local Experts, grown revenues to £18.6 million, grabbed a two percent market share and recently claimed a property book value of £2.76 billion. It’s all come at a heavy price. Marketing and advertising costs this year will increase its annual losses to £11.9 million, up from £5.4 million the year before. But the ambitions of backer Neil Woodford and founding brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce seem to know no bounds. As well as predicting a turnover of £73 million and profits of £44m by 2018, it has just been announced that Purplebricks has officially launched in Australia. It will initially focus on two of the country’s juiciest property markets, Melbourne and Brisbane, before rolling out further afield. In its statement released today Purplebricks says Australia’s traditional model of charging 2.2% of the sales value plus marketing-costs makes its offering a ‘compelling proposition’. The company is charging vendors a flat fee of Aus$5,400 to include photography, marketing and advertising on the main Australian portals. “Australia is a natural second market for us to target. It is a large…
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