A merger between two of the north’s biggest property market websites has raised concerns over a potential increase in prices for estate agents.
PropertyPal and Propertynews announced the merger earlier this week, with Lurgan-based GCD Technologies becoming a shareholder in the enlarged PropertyPal Ltd.
While both websites will continue to operate separately, they will now fall under the control of a single business entity.
East Belfast property agent Elaine Pooler told the BBC that industry professionals had been “blindsided” by Tuesday’s announcement.
She claimed some agents are taking advice on a potential complaint to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
“They now have a free rein to do whatever they like with their prices,” she told the BBC.
“Those prices get passed onto to our clients, who are the people selling their houses.”
A dispute over prices led to a group of estate agents withdrawing listings from PropertyPal’s platform earlier in February 2024.
Most agents resumed listings in July after a consensus was reached in July.
The resolution came after Used Cars NI co-founder Cecil Hetherington was announced as PropertyPal’s new chairman in May 2024, after taking a significant stake in the business.
Jordan Buchanan, who became PropertyPal’s new CEO in May, will continue to lead the merged company.
Earlier this week he said the merger had been positively received by some estate agents, and said both websites had always been competitively priced.
Propertynews, which started out as a magazine in 2000, went digital in 2000.
It was sold to Co Armagh software company GCD Technologies by Belfast Telegraph’s owner Mediahuis in 2021.
Popertypal was first launched in 2007.
The move to merge the listing sites comes as a new property portal prepares to launch in the Northern Ireland market.
HomesNI was incorporated last month by Stephen Cousins, the founder of Belfast web design business BlueCubes.
The company’s portal, which officially launches on September 2, already lists 4,000 homes for sale.
