Primelocation.com, the website set up by 230 of Britain’s estate agents, is set to make a profit, after its launch in January 2001 at a cost of £11m.
The residential agents’ joint website will announce next week that it expects to go cash positive for the first time by the end of this year.
The news will come as a relief to firms including Chesterton, Cluttons, DTZ, FPDSavills, Knight Frank and Strutt & Parker, which ploughed up to £1m each into the venture.
Last year the portal was forced to charge each agency that lists properties on the site between £600 and £3,000 per branch per year. The site has also scaled back its aspirations, shelving plans for a call-centre and online property news.
Primelocation promised shareholders “a lottery ticket” to financial success but has since admitted that this may take “up to five years”. Chief executive Ian Springett refused to comment.
