Metropix has revealed a further increase in the use of floor plans by letting agents in the UK. On analysing sample listings within Rightmove during May, floor plans were available to view on 18% of rental properties. This compares to just 5.7% four years ago, when Metropix undertook the same
7 May 2016 – by Damian Wild It is 12 months since Brett White announced the merger of DTZ and Cushman & Wakefield, a blockbuster deal that has put the combined business’s every move in the spotlight. He has been relatively quiet since, preferring deed to word. Now, though, Cushmans
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) could face legal challenges after publishing its final report, which had not significantly changed since March, according to PwC. The final recommendations from the competition watchdog’s investigation into the energy market appear not to have changed hugely since the provisional remedies
Metropix has revealed a further increase in the use of floor plans by letting agents in the UK. On analysing sample listings within Rightmove during May, floor plans were available to view on 18% of rental properties. This compares to just 5.7% four years ago, when Metropix undertook the same analysis in June 2012. Brian Farrell, Director of Metropix, a supplier of floor plan based products to the residential estate agency market, had this to say: “The appeal of floor plans continues to grow with letting agents who are looking to differentiate themselves from competitors. It’s a clear instruction winner and agents are really seeing that they matter to both landlords and tenants. As a judge at one of the major forthcoming letting agency awards, I was interested in seeing that many letting agents that entered are now using floor plans as a key point of difference.” Research from Rightmove backs this up, as their last study in 2015 found that 1 in 5 buyers and tenants said they would ignore a listing without a floor plan, or only return if nothing else caught their eye. On top of this 37% of landlords would not invite an agent to value their home, if they did not provide floor plans as standard. Concludes Brian Farrell: “The tide continues to turn as letting agents look for a unique selling point for their own organisation. Our complementary Space Planner tool is growing in popularity too as it helps agents offer an interactive service so prospective tenants can plan the layout of furnishings in a home: ideal for those looking to rent who may already have belongings and would prefer not to have to re-purchase new sofas or wardrobes with each and every house-move!” Source link
7 May 2016 – by Damian Wild It is 12 months since Brett White announced the merger of DTZ and Cushman & Wakefield, a blockbuster deal that has put the combined business’s every move in the spotlight. He has been relatively quiet since, preferring deed to word. Now, though, Cushmans is firmly established as a top-three global real estate adviser, able to brandish the sort of telephone-number credentials that the very biggest companies on the planet revel in: 43,000 employees, 250 offices, 60 countries and so on. And White is ready to shout – and surprise. At the time of the deal there was an assumption that top three would never be enough for White. It was an irresistible narrative: the former CBRE chief executive would lead his new firm past his old one. It hasn’t happened yet and, he says emphatically, it won’t. All the content from this weekís magazine, including this article, is available in the new app. “I think CBRE will forever, at least in my career, be the largest firm,” he says. “I think that’s now unassailable, particularly given their focus now on facility management, facility services businesses, which are big revenue and low margin. So that ship has sailed. I think that’s great, actually, for us because we are going to focus a little bit differently. And I think that whether we are two or three – my guess is that’s going to bounce around a lot – we like that position.” That position is an interesting one. Despite being the newest Goliath on the block, White – and his chief lieutenant for Europe, John Forrester – is keen to hang on to its upstart, disruptor status. “We like being the underdog even though we are really not any more,” he says. Click here to read the full interview Source link
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) could face legal challenges after publishing its final report, which had not significantly changed since March, according to PwC. The final recommendations from the competition watchdog’s investigation into the energy market appear not to have changed hugely since the provisional remedies published in March, despite receiving more than 70 responses from industry stakeholders, including from the big six suppliers, independents, Ofgem and the Department of Energy and Climate Change. PwC director and head of utility strategy and regulation Stuart Cook said: “I think it’s quite surprising how little their views have shifted given the level of information they’ve been provided. “I wouldn’t want to predict it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some legal challenges…” Cook added: “I wouldn’t be surprised if people are saying we’ve put a lot of arguments and commentary across and it doesn’t seem to be particularly considered.” The investigation has also received criticism from independent supplier First Utility which said the remedies “could make things worse”, and Angus MacNeil chair of the Energy and Climate Change select committee, who said the CMA was being “tepid”. Source link
