LONDON (Reuters) – British online real estate agent Purplebricks Group Plc became the latest home seller to play down the impact of Brexit on Thursday, saying there had been little discernible impact on trading from the vote to leave the EU.
Shares in Britain’s biggest real estate firms lost about a quarter of their value in the weeks following the Brexit vote, but a dip in home sales was short-lived.
Purplebricks, backed by fund manager Neil Woodford, said trading since May 1 had been “very encouraging” and instructions were up 121 percent year-on-year.
The first online estate agent to list in Britain in December, Purplebricks is one of several online realtors such as Rightmove and Zoopla betting that home buyers will shift from high street estate agencies.
Zoopla in September raised its profit forecast for the year.
Purplebricks said its market share versus its online peers has improved to 65 percent at the start of September and it was “confident” about the future.