Purplebricks to theoretically merge with a traditional business, says expert

Recently, a proptech authority, renounced for his knowledge and prowess within the real estate industry, stated that he expects Purplebricks, the hybrid real estate agency based out of the UK, could potentially merge with a traditional business to get a high number of brick-and-mortar branches.

Professor Andrew Baum, of the Said Business School at the University of Oxford, said: “When a business has raised a lot of money and is burning through it very quickly, it commonly looks to merge with a traditional model.

“In the case of Purplebricks, that would not surprise me in the least.”

Baum was the author of Proptech 3.0: The Future of Real Estate two years ago, in which he castigated Purplebricks for having an ‘unadventurous’ and ‘shockingly simple’ business model.

He also stated  that he had not changed his mind since those early criticisms.

He said: “Right from the start, I didn’t think Purplebricks’ technology was particularly innovative, and its business model was really only built on cutting out the overhead of offices.

“However, the phenomenon of banks having no branches and estate agents having no branches has placed both in danger of becoming extremely unpopular.”

Baum, who currently leads an initiative called the Future of Real Estate Technology, said: “Purplebricks’ growth estimates were entirely based on denting the business of high street agents – but that has not really happened.”

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