Author: Antony Antoniou

Antony Antoniou MAPD, has been involved in property for over two decades, in developing, sales and rental. With an inherent love of property and a comprehensive knowledge of Northampton and the surrounding area, he is well placed to deal with all aspects of the sales process, from sourcing, valuing, marketing and sales progression.
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Portals Say No! They reject agents’ plea for virus payment holiday

Portals Say No! They reject agents' plea for virus payment holiday

The three leading portals have rejected an appeal to give the industry a payment holiday to help firms through the Coronavirus crisis.

Estate Agent Today was approached yesterday morning by three independent agents exasperated about the prospect of sharply reduced revenue as a result of Coronavirus, which may well stretch over several months.

Ami Dixon, chief executive of online agency iMoveHome, contacted EAT on behalf of her firm and the High Street agency James Du Pavey – based in Nantwich and Eccleshall – and the Staffordshire High Street agency Dourish and Day.

Dixon told EAT: “As agents, we have had the most incredibly difficult 18 months, if we have survived Brexit, we are now to cope with Coronavirus. The market is suffering again and lenders are clamming up.

“The portals, being agents’ largest company bill, have done nothing to help agents keep going. Surely now is the time. Mortgage lenders are offering three months payment holiday to anyone affected, interest rates dropped, the government are taking the damage to our economy seriously but the portals again offer nothing. 

“Isn’t it time the portals offered agents some ease and recognise they need to help too!

“If they do not react the only survivors will be the corporates – independents may not make it through another tough year of turmoil. James and Steve both run seriously good, award winning independent high street agencies, I am an online as you know – we are all going to suffer as the market spirals into decline.”

Yesterday morning EAT asked all three portals if they would consider a payment holiday, and we passed Ami’s note to them to show the strength of feeling.

However, the request for help has been been dismissed out of hand.

Rightmove told us last evening: “We’re working with industry experts to run webinars over the next couple of weeks with practical advice to help support agents. We’ll be announcing details of these webinars on the Rightmove hub. The first one is live at 3pm on Monday March 16 with Peter Knight on how to prepare for and make the most of working from home. We’re also sending information to agents to help them prepare if they do need to run their business from home for a temporary period of time.

“We’ll be closely monitoring the situation in the coming weeks and will add more relevant topics to help agents. We’re closely following government guidance at Rightmove and we have plans in place for all employees to work from home if necessary which have been tested to ensure they’re fit for purpose.”

Andy Marshall, chief commercial officer for Zoopla, told us: “Naturally we are mindful of the impact of Coronavirus on our agent partners. We welcome moves made by the government to help the industry, which include a business rates holiday and promises to refund sick pay costs for employees off work due to the illness. While it is too early to say for certain, we hope that the steps taken by the government, combined with the strong start the market has enjoyed this year and the recent reduction in the Base Rate, making borrowing cheaper, will mean the Coronavirus only has a short-term impact on the housing market.”

A spokesperson for OnTheMarket told us: “The situation regarding the COVID-19 virus is clearly evolving rapidly and we are monitoring developments accordingly. OnTheMarket recognised last year the challenging market conditions which agents were facing and decided the right thing to do was to support our agent base with our 2020 Pricing Pledge. This determined not to increase listing fees in 2020 for any agents on full standard tariff contracts who signed five-year agreements at IPO, rather than being charged an increase of up to five per cent as allowed for within the agreement.

“Following the election in December and at the beginning of this year, the UK housing market saw a marked increase in transactions and a ‘bounce’ in sentiment. While it is too early to tell the wider impacts of the COVID-19 virus on the housing market, we will naturally continue to monitor the situation very closely. In the current environment, and as the agent-backed portal, OnTheMarket is as committed as ever to delivering high volumes of quality leads and a first-class support service at a sustainably fair price.”

Just this week OnTheMarket – in the same announcement as it revealed chief executive Ian Springett had been sacked – boasted that its revenues for the year to the end of January were above the £18m figure it had previously suggested: it declined to comment on any pay-off being made to Springett.

Zoopla is not listed on the London Stock Exchange but its owner – Silver Lake Partners, a US private equity firm specialising in technology investments – bought the ZPG company for £2.2 billion in 2018, and has since then invested heavily in its agency services.

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Investors in Purplebricks and Countrywide take fright over virus

Investors in Purplebricks and Countrywide take fright over virus

Almost all quoted agencies and portals have suffered as a result of stock market investors being spooked by Coronavirus, with some of the more controversial players – especially Countrywide and Purplebricks – leading the falls.

At close of business yesterday late afternoon, this was the picture:

Countrywide, 175.0p, down 24.05%

Purplebricks, 53.5p, down 15.08%

Savills, 882.0p, down 11.67%

OnTheMarket, 61.03p, down 10.91%

Rightmove, 515.8p, down 7.83%

LSL Property Services, 265.0p, down 7.67%

Foxtons, 59.5p, down 5.71%

The Property Franchise Group, 188.0p, down 3.09%

Winkworth, 135.55p, den 1.42%

Hunters, 55.0p, up 0.92%

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Savills the latest agency to warn of Coronavirus threat to transactions

Savills the latest agency to warn of Coronavirus threat to transactions

Savills is the latest agency to warn about the possible threat of Coronavirus to its business activities and success this year.

In its preliminary final results for 2019, issued this morning – and showing a strong performance for the international property group – the company says: “It is difficult accurately to predict the full impact of this issue on our business for 2020 as a whole. However, given the nature of the real estate market, we would anticipate that any near term slowdown caused by sentiment and specific measures taken to combat COVID-19 would generally result in a temporary delay in activity rather than an absolute loss of business.”

It continues: “In Asia, particularly China, it is clear that COVID-19 is having a significant impact on transactional activity and may have a similar effect elsewhere, depending to an extent on the length and severity of each outbreak. Our focus is on the welfare of our staff and clients and we have instituted protective measures in locations potentially affected by this virus.”

The trading figures for the company – which has a vast commercial and international infrastructure as well as its UK resi sales and consultancy activities – show a successful 2019.

Today’s statement says: “Our UK residential business continued to perform well in challenging conditions for much of the year which saw the UK market volume of transactions with values greater than £1m declining by two per cent year-on-year. “Against this backdrop and buoyed by the clear General Election result in December, Savills UK Residential business performed well, growing revenue by six per cent year-on-year.”

The company also says it successfully acquired and integrated London agency Currells.

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Latest Countrywide “shambles” sends share price tumbling

Latest Countrywide "shambles" sends share price tumbling

Countrywide’s share price fell by as much as 17 per cent at one point yesterday afternoon as investors assessed the latest pratfall by the company – the collapse of its bid to sell its commercial arm.

As we reported yesterday there was an announcement from Countrywide a few minutes before the Budget, prompting industry cynics to say that this was a classic example of attempting to bury bad news.

The announcement effectively admitted that its bid to sell Lambert Smith Hampton to Monaco-based John Bengt Moeller for £38m was dead in the water, with new buyers being sought.

The revelation was described on Twitter as a “shambles” by respected property commentator Peter Bill, the former editor of Estate Gazette.

In a brief trading update released at the same time Countrywide reported a £17m drop in revenues last year and revealed the tenant fees ban had cost it £12m.

Within a few minutes of the announcement the Countrywide share price plummeted from 265p to 220p; it recovered slightly during the afternoon to close at 232.4p, down well over nine per cent.

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Online agency reduced to shock tactics criticising High St firms

Online agency reduced to shock tactics criticising High St firms

Nested is the latest online agency to base a marketing campaign around criticism of established estate agents.

In three 30-second TV ads it accuses established agencies of failing to give a complete service to their customers.

Instead it claims to be “unique” in supporting vendors both through the sale of their existing property and their purchase of a new one.

A statement issued to the press in support of the advertisements accuses High Street agencies of focussing “only on selling properties” and asking what it would be like if other professions did the same approach “and only did half a job.”

Despite the onset of the Coronavirus crisis, one of Nested’s advertisements features paramedics and an ambulance “with hilarious results” according to the press statement issued on behalf of the agency.

“Making the investment into producing an … advertising campaign has been a huge step for us at Nested, and we’re excited to see how the ads are received by consumers. They aim to highlight our novel and hassle-free approach to an archaic and fragmented industry” says Ben Bailey, head of brand and communications at Nested.

Almost exactly a year ago Nested, which offers vendors a form of guaranteed sale, laid off 20 per cent of its workforce because of a drop off in business according to a technology publication.

This was despite the fact that in 2018 Nested raised £120m in one funding round and £80m in another, as well as earlier funding when the company launched.

Nested operates in London only – although in 2017 it told Estate Agent Today that it hoped to expand to cover Bristol, Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester the following year.

 

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Budget 2020: ‘There must be no further taxation on landlords’

Budget 2020: ‘There must be no further taxation on landlords’

The Guild of Property Professionals is calling on the new chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to use his Budget speech, which will take place tomorrow, to support investment in the private rented sector, as research shows that buy-to-let landlords are exiting the market in droves.

Tax and regulation changes continue to have a negative impact on the buy-to-let market, with a significant number of landlords selling buy-to-let properties with a view reducing their portfolio, or exiting the market altogether.

Mortgage interest relief changes, the scrapping of the ‘wear and tear’ allowance and the introduction of the 3% stamp duty surcharge have hit landlords’ profits over the past few of years, which partly explains why so many people are exiting the BTL market and thus reducing the supply of much needed private rented stock.

The government’s draconian tax changes have not just pushed a number of BTL landlords out of the PRS, but also left many prospective tenants with little alternative but to bid against each other, pushing rents up in the process, as a result of falling housing supply.

Iain McKenzie, CEO of the Guild of Property Professionals, said: “If we wish to sustain a thriving private rented sector there must be no further taxation on landlords. Tenants want more choice not less.

“The government should do more to support landlords to remain in the sector, not drive them out, which will ultimately cut the supply of rental properties and put upward pressure on rents.”

The housing market has had a strong start to the year, with improved activity levels and property price growth across every region in the UK, and McKenzie hopes that this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

He continued: “Ideally, the housing market needs 12 months of a stable environment to enable it to bear the fruit of pent up frustration. It would be pertinent for the government to avoid anything that could hamper consumer confidence, which is already at risk with the threat of tough measures to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

“It is likely there will be further support for first-time buyers by way of discount through a ‘First Home’ scheme, which could see new homes discounted by up to 30%. Whilst it is fair to say that first-time buyers are the lifeblood of the property market, getting the balance right between new buyer incentives and support for second-hand house buyers is the key to a fluid market.

“With that in mind, like many, we would welcome any positive news on Stamp Duty. Boris Johnson had previously pledged to implement changes to current stamp duty legislation by raising the threshold to £500,000. Although mentions of this have been more subdued in recent months, it would relieve large sections of the country from the burden of stamp duty and go a long way to bolstering consumer confidence.”

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Rightmove growth at all-time low, despite its market dominance

Rightmove growth at all-time low, despite its market dominance

Rightmove’s growth rate is at an all-time low, despite what some consider to be an unbeatable lead amongst portals in the UK.

That’s the view of Mike DelPrete, former head of strategy at a New Zealand portal and a long-standing analyst of estate agencies in the UK and the US.

In a new analysis he says the primary driver for Rightmove – accounting for 72 per cent of its revenue – is its core agency listing service. “The growth rate of this business has dipped to four per cent, less than half of last year, and the lowest rate in years” says DelPrete.

He continues: “Rightmove has saturated the UK market. Every estate agent that could possibly be a customer, generally is. Therefore, the only way to increase revenues in the agency listing business is by raising prices.”

However, the analyst warns that Rightmove’s ability to raise prices is diminishing, and the key performance indicator for portals – average revenue per advertiser growth or ARPA – is falling annually.

DelPrete, an expert in US portals and agents as well as those in the UK, says the American site Zillow underwent a similar slowdown in its core lead generation business.

The analyst says the logical next move for such a business is to find new revenue streams, and in Zillow’s case it launched an iBuyer operation, home loans and other initiatives. “In the face of growth headwinds, Zillow acted decisively to diversify.”

However, he insists Rightmove has not done this – perhaps because it is in such a dominant position with a huge profit margin of 74 per cent on revenues and may be beyond the reach of other portals in the UK.

“But as a public company, it naturally faces pressure to grow — and that growth has steadily slowed over a number of years” says DelPrete.

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What should OnTheMarket do now? An analyst wants to know…

What should OnTheMarket do now? An analyst wants to know...

Prominent agency industry analyst Anthony Codling is asking agents whether the board of OnTheMarket did the right thing by firing Ian Springett.

Codling – a prominent analyst formerly at investment bank Jefferies – has issued a 10 question survey asking agents questions including whether they believe OTM was correct in yesterday’s sacking, and whether the portal is staying true to its aims of becoming an alternative to Rightmove and Zoopla.

It goes on to ask specifically where Springett’s replacement should come from – whether it should be from within the existing team at OTM, from the wider agency sector, from another existing property portal, or from an agency industry supplier, or from outside the residential sector completely.

In addition to some general questions about Rightmove and the wider portal landscape, Codling concludes by asking: “If you could make one change to the strategy of OnTheMarket, what would it be?”

At Jefferies, Codling became a prominent industry figure for his searing analyses of Purplebricks’ sales record, and then in 2018 Codling quit the bank and became chief executive of property search firm Rummage4Property.

In December 2018 he was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that Countrywide and some 30 other estate agency groups signed up to Rummage, alongside some of the UK’s largest housebuilders. He suggested that Rummage would offer a listing service for just over a tenth of the cost of Rightmove.

Specifically, he said Rummage4Property would begin by charging a flat fee of £1200 a month and would link any changes to house price inflation. “The key selling point is that it is much cheaper than Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket plc” he told the paper.

However, Rummage4Property has not moved in the direction suggested by Codling, and he himself left the company towards the end of 2019. He has since been linked with an organisation called twindig.

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Agent repays ‘non-returnable’ reservation fee after property row

Agent repays ‘non-returnable’ reservation fee after property row

An agency has repaid a £6,000 reservation fee to someone who thought they had purchased a property for £83,000 but was later told they must pay £100,000.

The Sunday Times reports a case where a reader made what they believed to be a successful bid of £83,000 for a property in Newport, south Wales, in an online auction held by Pattinson.

At the time of the auction they paid a £4,150 deposit and the £6,000 reservation fee.

But when they later tried to visit the property they could not, and told the paper: “My solicitor subsequently confirmed that the house had been repossessed … by the bank that had provided the mortgage for the previous owner.”

The buyer was told the purchase could only go ahead if they paid the bank’s valuation of £100,000; the buyer could not afford the higher cost but received back only £3,685 – the deposit minus legal fees.

The £6,000 reservation fee was kept by Pattinson at the time, as the firm had said from the outset that the fee was non-returnable.

The buyer concludes in its comments to the paper: “I think it is highly unethical for an auctioneer to list properties under a repossession order without disclosing this to potential buyers.”

The newspaper’s personal finance section pursued the case and obtained guidance from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors that all relevant documents relating to a property should be available for inspection – online, at the agent’s and auctioneer’s office or at the seller’s solicitor.

The buyer claims to have previously been sent a pack containing a draft contract, the property information form and other documents – but none that raised concern with their solicitor.

“RICS found no evidence of misconduct by Pattinson” says the newspaper; nontheless, the paper asked Pattinson to refund the reservation fee – which it has now done.

The newspaper goes on to say that the company apologised for having failed to respond to the buyer’s recent queries. “It said it had been in an ‘unfortunate position’ as ‘the repossession after the sale had been agreed was completely out of our hands’.”

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Sellers desert online agents for High Street rivals, says Zoopla

Sellers desert online agents for High Street rivals, says Zoopla

Almost eight in 10 sellers have instructed High Street agents in the past year – a significantly higher figure than 12 months ago.

The study involved 6,000 people and was conducted for Zoopla; specifically it shows 79 per cent instructed High Street agents in 2019, whereas in 2018 the figure was 66 per cent.

Some 20 per cent of the same instructed online agents – although Zoopla’s research shows only nine per cent actually sold through online firms, suggesting the rest went on to commission High Street companies.

“Estate agency as an industry is increasingly diverse and the emergence of onlines and hybrids have certainly given the market a new dimension. That said, with research indicating High Street agents steadfast in their appeal, it suggests all operators are working to differentiate and add value to consumers whether it’s through local knowledge, sage market insight or competitive fees” says Zoopla’s chief commercial officer, Andy Marshall.

“We are also seeing agents actively diversify the services that they offer vendors. Not only does this reap financial rewards for their businesses, but also provides a one-stop shop and eases pain points for buyers and sellers” he adds.

Regionally, High Street agents are most popular in the South West, with 83 per cent of vendors using a traditional firm in 2019. East Anglia and Wales follow with 82 per cent. Scotland saw the lowest proportion of sellers opting for a High Street agent – 64 per cent.

The portal’s survey also suggests that, aside from their core business, agents are diversifying revenue streams.

Some 43 per cent are now offering mortgage advice and brokering, with 42 per cent providing legal services.

The Zoopla survey – conducted before this week’s government statements about possible disruption in the near future caused by Coronavirus – also shows 52 per cent of agents anticipating more properties coming on to the market in 2020.

This is significantly higher than the 39 per cent recorded in 2018.