Would star fund manager Neil Woodford sell his house through Purplebricks, the online estate agency? Probably — for two reasons. He could save up to £18,000 by paying Purplebricks’ £849 flat fee instead of conventional agents’ 1.3 per cent commission, assuming his Tetbury home commanded the sort of price his neighbours’ have of late. And he holds a ~20 per cent stake in the company via his funds, so clients would expect him to put their money where his house is.
Purplebricks has the advantage over online and traditional rivals because of its “investment risk tolerance” - a vast budget and, even more importantly, a willingness to invest tens of millions of pounds year after year in a bid to build market share.
With the property market market in a bit of a state across many regions of the world Purplebricks must hope home sellers and investors are as patient as Neil Woodford.