Property website Zoopla.co.uk has launched a live online property auction platform for buying and selling residential property, in partnership with auction firm Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC).
The first online auction of approximately 150 homes will begin on February 11, ending on February 14. Thereafter live online auctions will take place regularly running four days at a time from Thursday afternoons to Sunday evenings when the auction closes and contracts are exchanged with the successful bidder.
Initially focused on repossessed properties, the service will also shortly be available to estate agents across the UK, providing them a new, fast and effective additional route to market for any of their property listings. Zoopla.co.uk will not charge its member agents anything for listing properties in its auctions and in addition to receiving their standard commission from the seller when the property is sold through the online auctions, agents will benefit from a further 0.25% of the purchase price as a referral fee which will be paid by Zoopla.co.uk.
The service will allow agents who advertise on Zoopla.co.uk to add any properties they choose into the new auction service, while continuing to market them and offer them for sale in the normal way. Properties may be added to the auction service up to 30 days prior to the auction commencing, during which period prospective buyers can arrange viewings via the agent and carry out due-diligence. Over the coming weeks, automated functionality will be introduced to allow Zoopla.co.uk member agents to seamlessly opt any of their properties into the auctions.
The auction platform offered by Zoopla.co.uk will provide agents with the ability to offer vendors a unique, additional route to market, which should result in maximising the sale price achieved and reducing the time on market, along with providing agents the opportunity to boost their commissions by approximately £500 per average transaction.
Agents and vendors will agree a reserve price before the property is entered into the online auction and successful bids will be binding on the buyer. Only properties represented by estate agents, lenders and developers will be permitted on the auction platform located at Zoopla.co.uk/auctions. Private sellers will not be able to participate.
Alex Chesterman, CEO of Zoopla.co.uk, said: "We see live online bidding as the future of property auctions and our innovative offering as one of the most exciting developments for estate agents in the UK for years. We are delighted to be partnering with REDC, the world’s leading player in property auctions, and their expertise in online property auctions combined with the Zoopla.co.uk audience creates a unique and transformational opportunity for our agent members to maximise the price achieved, reduce the time on market and significantly increase their fee potential."
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