BREAKING NEWS – top 5 stories 25/02/2021
PROPERTYMARK HIRES AN INTERNAL CANDIDATE AS INTERIM CEO
Beleaguered Propertymark, who recently ‘lost’ their CEO new hire Tim Balcon, have now turned to one of their own board members Nathan Emerson to act as interim CEO.
On the positive Nathan has a distinguished agency background, but it remains to be seen if any changes will happen within this organisation that recently 70% of agents thought was now unfit to carry on, in a recent survey.
CORPORATION TAX – WILL IT RISE FROM 19% ?
Many real estate businesses and businesses in the supply chain myself included, enjoy paying corporation tax at 19%. It has been loudly discussed that Rishi Sunak, the giveaway Chancellor of the Exchequer, is now looking to increase corporation tax incrementally over the coming years to 24% or more.
The knock-on effect for all will be that the entrepernial inducement to ‘run’ your own business, will be severally lessened, if you think about it UK estate agency is a ‘national’ – ‘cottage industry’ made up of many self-employed business owners. So it is not just SDLT that many of us will be looking at next Wednesday.
BOOM OR BUST
There are contrasting headwinds at present in the property market, with a 0.1% BoE base rate and even talks of a negative interest rate in the future, borrowing has never been so cheap.
But with 5.1% unemployment, the possibility that repossessions could peak at 23,000 in 2023 according to a recent statistical model, will the end of furlough and the start of non-lockdown reveal a positive or negative housing market?
REAPIT LOOKS TO GROW WITH ACQUISITION OF AGENTPOINT
The following is a partially from a press release, but given REAPIT’s large digital footprint in the estate agency sector its inclusion is well worth reading. As it shows that 2021 is definitely going to be, as reported before, the year of huge collaborations or acquisitions as key players jockey for strategic positioning.
‘Backed by private equity firm Accel-KKR (AKKR), today announced that they have entered into a binding, definitive agreement to acquire Agentpoint PTY Limited, the largest provider of retail estate agent websites and lead generation technology in Australia. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first calendar quarter.
The proposed acquisition, once it’s finalised, will leverage Reapit’s leading position in the Australian and UK markets to provide a significant expansion opportunity for Agentpoint’s products and technology services. This new addition to Reapit’s award-winning product portfolio will give Reapit customers access to an even wider choice of digital solutions.
Mark Armstrong, CEO, Reapit, commented, “We are poised to incorporate Agentpoint’s outstanding solutions into Reapit’s offer. It is a great company with a comprehensive product set and an unbeatable track record in the market. Agentpoint perfectly aligns with our mission of giving residential estate agents access to best-in-class Proptech solutions that will help them maintain a competitive edge in all market conditions.”
STAMP DUTY EXTENSION
Even my local agent has sent me, and no doubt hundreds of other a blank form email telling me that the SDLT holiday period has been extended by three months.
As it has yet to be officially announced, let us see what the Chancellor and his red case has in store for the property industry, as nothing is certain until it is. Also the devil is certainly always in the detail.
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