Propex to launch improved online investment service

Property Week website will contribute news to revamped internet venture

By James Whitmore

Propex, an online introductory service for the property investment world, will take a big step towards providing the market with a screen based trading platform similar to those used by City dealers with the launch of an improved version on Monday.

Propex Professional will replace the version launched at the beginning of last year. It is designed to give vendors a method of introducing their investments to the market and provide a range of supplementary information such as deals comparables, news and research. The rolling news feed at the top of the Propex homepage will included stories from Property Week’s website (www.propertyweek.co.uk), which provides a daily news service.

The revamped version includes links to stock market information, share prices, bond prices and interest rates.

The main purpose of the system is to enable agents to market properties to a potential vendor in a more efficient way than sending details in the post or by e-mail. Agents will know that the information has been received and will get a quick response from the investor. They will also find out the name of the person at the investment company who is dealing with the information.

Although most of the information that is submitted is private, there will now be a ‘general availability’ section, where properties that are on the market can be seen by all investors.

There will also be a new messaging service in the style of Bloomberg, whereby for example, an agent could post a piece of research or an investor could let the market know it is looking for a certain type of property.

The service is subscription based and users pay an annual fee to take a ‘desk’ on the exchange. This then allows subscribers to communicate with one another and introduce investment opportunities. In its first year Propex sold 1,000 desks – 250 to investors, 750 to agents – at a cost of £750 a year. The new system will cost around £1,000 a year.

Managing director Paul Marples believes the potential market is 3,000 desks. He says it has taken him a year to convince agents to use the service, but they are now introducing an average of 50 deals a day. Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker is about to use the system internally for all its deals.

Tim Turnbull, a director of Aberdeen Property Investors who has been involved in setting up Propex Professional, says the service has been beneficial to API. At midday each day API holds a deal meeting to go through every deal that has been introduced. ‘Usually there are 10 to 35 deals, of which a half come through Propex,’ says Turnbull. The advantage of the Propex – introduced deals is that PDF files can be attached to the details of the property, which means that the API fund managers in Glasgow, who are linked to the meeting via a conference call, can see all the information.

There are 56 shareholders in Property Investment Exchange, the holding company for Propex Professional and Primepitch, an introductory service for private investors. One-third are agents, ranging from the large firms such as CB Hillier Parker, Jones Lang LaSalle and FPDSavills, to smaller firms such as Doherty Baines, Milner Moffit and Tudor Toone. Institutions, such as Prudential, Scottish Widows and Hermes, own 20% between them, venture capital firms own 13% and the management has 25%.