The biggest real estate agency in the UK, Countrywide, has just bought the Sotheby’s International Realty UK franchise. The deal includes the auction house’s Mayfair-based franchise office in addition to the exclusive agreement with which Countrywide plans to grow the 500-office network across the UK and in the Channel Islands.
According to Grenville Turner, Countrywide’s CEO,
Countrywide moves more people than any other agent in the United Kingdom through a network of 1,200 offices with 41 leading estate agency brands. We plan to expand the presence of the Sotheby’s International Realty brand in central London and across the United Kingdom and to capitalize on the renewed sense of confidence we see in the property market. While this new business will be run separately from our other brands, we intend to leverage the support of our existing business structure. We also look forward to collaborating closely with the Sotheby’s Auction House in London as we develop our strategies.
With estate agencies falling by the wayside due to low sales volumes (one in five real estate agents went out of business in 2008), the larger agents are gobbling up what is left of the market – Countrywide actually saw an increase in market share through 2009 and I would say that this was a “too good to miss” opportunity and much like the financial institutions we will be seeing an ongoing process of the large taking over the small.
Countryside already has over 1,200 branches in the UK and it is worth noting that the company is privately owned.
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im looking for a Castell to buj!!!