Estate agency Connells has announced it will be closing its online business Hatched with immediate effect, saying the “online-only/hybrid” business is commercially unviable.
The company is one of the largest estate agents in the UK but said the digital model is “fundamentally flawed”, which may be a subtle swipe at online rival Purplebricks, which describes itself as a “hybrid” estate agency with online and local office operations.
Purplebricks is the most dominant of the online agents and could account for as much as 15pc of the UK market by 2022, according to JPMorgan. Backed by high-profile investor Neil Woodford, the agency remains a threat to Connells.
