Purplebricks boss takes swipe at London-centric property industry

Purplebricks’ global chief executive Michael Bruce has taken a swipe at the property and mainstream media for being too London-centric in their coverage of house prices.

Bruce, who recently has become more outspoken in his comments on Twitter, has taken to the social media platform again to weigh in on recent house price measures which have consistently shown the north of England performing more strongly than London and the south.

“New Hometrack data shows healthy house price growth in many areas north of M25. General mood may be downbeat but market is lively and robust across the north especially in big cities. So cheer up!” he says in one tweet.

He quickly followed that up with another saying: “Similar signs in the latest Land Registry UK House Price Index too. North west saw the greatest monthly house price rise, up by 1.2% since September. As I’ve said before, too much property reporting is Londoncentric and misses the bigger picture.”

And in what may have been an irresistible opportunity to plug his service, he adds in a further tweet: “Pleased to say Purplebricks have thousands of great properties for sale in and around these areas - and we’re open for business 24/7 over Christmas.”

Bruce has also recently taken a swipe at the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors’ prediction for the 2019 housing market, which he described on social media as “Too downbeat!” 

One set of London figures Bruce may be obliged to pay attention to, however, is that produced by the London Stock Exchange.

With trading now expected to be very thin on the remaining days in 2018, as Brexit nervousness continues to pervade markets, Purplebricks’ share price: in the past year its high has been a startling 499.60p, whereas now it is around 147.5p. 

This is up from its 2018 low of 126p but the trend remains about 60 per cent lower over the course of the past 12 months.

It was revealed on Christmas Eve that Michael Bruce (group chief executive),Kenny Bruce (global sales director), and two non-exec directors - Simon Downing and Adrian Blair - had acquired a further 368,775 ordinary shares in the company.