Purplebricks starting to struggle abroad

Today, Purplebricks has warned investors that its overseas activity has not been as fruitful as hoped, with a further blow coming across its native operations with the departure of their UK chief executive.

While the firm expects to maintain a three-quarter stranglehold of the UK online estate agency sector with revenues expected to exceed last year’s levels by more than 20 per cent, revenues in Australia and America are unlikely to meet expectations for this financial year.

Paul Telford, CEO of for sale by owner empowerment portal, www.okaylah.co.uk said, “A tough morning for Purplebricks HQ as this latest revenue warning has already seen their share price fall by 36%, wiping £150m off of the company’s value during early trading and this comes on top of a declining value seen over the last three months.

This news will further bolster the speculative worry of homeowners who have struggled to sell via Purplebricks, particularly those that have paid an upfront fee, and it will raise further questions around the overall sustainability of the company.

While the online sector continues to stutter with the low fixed fee causing an issue for the agents, and a wavering level of service deterring customers, the alternative is to spend an average of £3000 with a high street estate agent although again, the service element is often lacking. Hobson’s choice if ever there was.

However, home sellers are turning to for sale by owner platforms like OkayLah.co.uk as a bona fide route to market with no listing cost involved when doing so.

In the current challenging climate, there’s nothing to lose by looking to sell your property yourself and with the right guidance along the way, it’s certainly worth a shot.”