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Are online estate agents already outdated? Settled co-founders and The Garage Soho Britain’s most successful technology start-up investor, who was the first to back lastminute.com , notonthehighstreet.com and made.com believes we are already set for a second generation property technology regeneration, to be led by true technology firms, not online estate agents, who have simply placed the high street model on the internet. Thomas Teichman, Co-founder of The Garage Soho  and Chairman of Spark Ventures Thomas Teichman, Chairman of Spark Ventures and co-founder of brand incubator ‘The Garage Soho’, has backed property technology start-up Settled, an online platform that empowers buyers and sellers, removing the dependency on an estate agent. Teichman explains: “Online agents launched with big fanfares and many have referred to their high street peers as dinosaurs of the property world. Really though, online agents are effectively replicating bricks and...

Occupancy costs in offices across London and the South East are set to rise due to a combination of the new Elizabeth Line and the government’s business rates revaluation. Research by residential and commercial property firm JLL predicts that occupancy costs for grade A office space that is in close proximity to stations on the new line will inevitably be pushed up when it officially opens in 2017. With the next business rates revaluation due to come into effect on 1st April 2017, many occupiers will see their expenditure on occupancy costs rise. According to the research, a number of areas in central London which sit on the route of the new Elizabeth Line will experience particularly big jumps in the cost of grade A offices. Unveiling of the Logo for Elisabeth line by HRH Queen Elizabeth II The likes of Paddington which is estimated to see an average rise from £14.40 sq ft to £30.31 sq ft, Stratford (up to £17.47 sq ft from £8.16 sq ft) and Whitechapel (£16.09 sq ft to £2...

trouble in the highstreet The number of estate agents going bust has increased, with a 16 per cent rise in annual insolvencies. Figures from Moore Stephens ,  a top ten accounting and advisory network, with offices throughout the UK and members across the globe, reveal that the sector was the only industry in which the trend for fewer insolvencies was bucked last year, with 185 businesses going bust, after 160 did so in 2014.  The rate of insolvencies nationally across all industry sectors declined by 9 per cent, from 16,558 to 15,027 Three notable  insolvency sectors,  within property [ringed in red] retail ,construction and real estate. Bob Scarff [pictured above]former Country Wide plc chief, recently criticised the concentration on ‘retail’ activities by Countrywide - recently describing it as “preposterous”. A complete contrast to comments made Alison Platt the Chief Executive of Countrywide plc, bringing estate agency business int...