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Are 'Greedy Estate Agents' Attempting to Rig The Market?

A powerful 'cartel' of High Street estate agents will soon take the way  that property is sold 'back to the dark ages' by seeking to set up a new property portal, according to Russell Quirk, CEO of online estate agent eMoov.

Agents Mutual, set up by some of Britain's largest estate agents including Savills, Knight Frank, Douglas & Gordon and Kinleigh, Folkard & Hayward, is planning to launch a new portal called Onthemarket in January 2015 to rival current market leaders Zoopla, Rightmove and PrimeLocation.

High Street agents that are part of this consortium have agreed between them that they will restrict the marketing of their clients' properties by giving their own new portal an initial exclusivity period and then listing properties on just one other portal.

According to Quirk, the result will be both a delay to market the property and the loss of significant exposure for the home seller. "The way we buy and sell homes has changed enormously in the last ten years", said Quirk, adding "estate agents are critical to the process but so too are the low-cost, high-impact portals like Zoopla and Rightmove. They are where the majority of buyers search for property today. Home sellers engage an agent to give them the widest exposure, generate maximum interest and get them the best price. A group of High Street agents getting together to restrict marketing of their clients' properties in their own self-interest and against home sellers' interests is a backward step and reeks of greed."

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