The eXchange has announced that it is to enter into the housebuying market through the acquisition of Homepages.co.uk, furthering the online infomediary’s expansion into the lifestyle arena.
Homepages limited, an online home buying service, was purchased initially at £917,000, but a further £8.3m is to be paid over the next three years in shares or loan notes if the website achieves the agreed performance targets.
Paul Lindsey, chief executive at the eXchange, said: “Buying or selling a home will have significant financial implications for consumers. Our ability to offer services in this area fits well with our existing services between consumers and businesses.
“The acquisition has allowed us to move quickly into this market and provide us with an established online home marketing system and a management team to drive forward our development into this sector.”
Homepages.co.uk offers a range of information and services associated with homebuying and selling. It has links with over 500 estate agents selling 24,000 properties nationwide and generates around 100,000 property searches a month.
The site also offers to alert users via fax or e-mail when properties appear that match the user’s criteria. Following takeover, the site stands to benefit from increased distribution, marketing and technical knowledge.
Through the acquisition, the eXchange is also hoping to expand business to business services to estate agents through a customised version of eXweb that will include a mortgage sourcing service, as well as online mortgage processing and credit referencing.
