Hybrid agency promises to double in size within 18 months

EweMove, the high profile hybrid estate agency owned by The Property Franchise Group, says it has recruited a record 30 new franchisees so far this year.

This growth has allowed the group as a whole to pledge that its EweMove brand will double in size to cover 230 franchise territories by the end of 2022.

The announcement came at the AGM of TPFG, which took place yesterday.

Virtual attendees heard that the company “achieved strong trading results in the first five months of 2021” with revenue significantly higher than for the same period in 2020, which was impacted by Covid, as well as 2019. 

The figures also benefitted the TPFG’s acquisition of franchise rival Hunters, which was completed in March this year.

Following its takeover of Hunters, TPFG now has over 430 physical office locations, conducts the sale of circa 23,000 properties annually and manages in excess of 73,000 tenanted properties.

Group revenue in the five months to May 31 was up 90 per cent on 2020 and 85 per cent on 2019.

Group Management Service Fees - effectively the main franchisees’ fees - were up 54 per cent on 2020 and 39 per cent on 2019. Like-for-like fees (excluding those contributed from the acquisition of Hunters) increased 29 per cent on 2020 and 16 per cent on 2019.

The sales market continues to be buoyant with growth in the number of house sales for the period compared to 2020 ranging from 89 per cent in the group’s High Street brands to 126 per cent for EweMove. 

The average sales fee charged has increased by over 10 in the last year, in-line with growth in UK house prices.

In April TPFG and LSL Property Services announced a new deal, linking up for mortgage and related activities, meaning that LSL would provide digital and face-to-face mortgage and protection advice to the TPFG’s brands’ customers.

The TPFG AGM heard that “the franchise network has shown extremely strong interest in the [LSL] opportunity and the central team has begun to rollout fulfilment plans.”