Growth in action - regional agents unveil expansion plans

Two major regional agents have expanded their geographical presence and sales focus.

Midlands-based land and property agent Sheldon Bosley Knight (SBK) has snapped up two businesses, Wigwam Estate and Lettings Agents in Leamington and Banbury and Kavanagh Commercial based in Melksham, Wiltshire.

It brings the total number of additions to the SBK business this year to five.

As well as Wigwam’s residential sales element, the deal will add 120 managed properties to SBK’s rental portfolio while the Kavanagh Commercial deal will add a further 100 commercial properties.

All members of staff in both companies will be retained with both Wigwam and Kavanagh will be rebranded as SBK.

The acquisitions, for undisclosed sums, add to and extend SBK’s existing presence in Warwickshire and Oxfordshire and establish a base in Wiltshire.

SBK director and co-owner, Mike Cleary said: “We are delighted to acquire such well-established companies. They are exactly the right fit for our business and will complement and enhance our existing offering.

“Despite the challenges of the past two years, SBK has continued to push the boundaries and drive our business forward.

“We said at the start of this year our aim was to grow the business and we have done just that by acquiring five companies, expanding the number of offices and increasing our staff numbers – and all within the first six months.

“However we anticipate this to be the last acquisition for a while as we focus on embedding our new teams within SBK.

“We look forward to continuing to provide an excellent level of service and advice for buyers, tenants and landlords in and around Leamington, Banbury and Melksham.”

Meanwhile, Yorkshire estate agency Linley & Simpson has unveiled plans to expand its focus on new homes.

It comes after it achieved record-breaking £75m of new home sales in the past 12 months.

The specialist land and new homes department at Linley & Simpson is to extend its geographical footprint into untapped in-demand locations, after posting a year-on-year increase in turnover of more than 50%.

The dedicated team, which has grown from two to seven and includes ex-developers, said the spike in demand for new homes following the pandemic, especially family ones in more rural areas, showed no sign of slowing down

Around two-in-three of its sales in the past year featured these properties.

Its current portfolio of land and new homes for sale stands at 196, across 20 developments. 

There is an additional pipeline of more than 285 properties, worth a total of £85.5m, poised to be launched to market in the next two years, the agent said.

The department, which is based at Linley & Simpson’s Harrogate office, already supports developer clients through a growing number of other High Street branches in neighbouring areas.

On the back of another year of growth, it is now to extend its offering across the whole network of 23 offices in Yorkshire and The Humber, linking with the residential sales team at each branch.

These include Bingley, Chapel Allerton, Harrogate, Headingley, Horsforth, Ilkley, Leeds city centre, Pudsey, Ripon, Roundhay, Sheffield, Skipton, Wakefield, Wetherby and York.

It will also strengthen its working partnership with Linley & Simpson’s sister companies, Dale Eddison, in Ilkley, Otley and Skipton; and Hardisty and Co in Horsforth.

David Waddington, the agency’s director of land and new homes, said: “Having grown into the largest land and new homes agent in the area, we now have a strong launch pad for taking our services to housebuilders in new territories.

“Developers can draw upon our team’s 130 collective years’ sales and marketing expertise in this sector, as well as take advantage of an aligned and connected branch network, which is set to expand further in 2022 and beyond.

“It will also enable us to consolidate our position as the number one go-to agent on the property portals for land and new home stock.”