Agents are gunning for big portals

The agents are attempting another fight back against the market strangle-hold of the two key online property portals, Rightmove.com and Zoopla.co.uk .

They've tried and failed before,( remember Propertylive and other botched agent backed portals), but fed up with the high ransoms, another maverick consortium of agents have saddled up and formed a new company - Agents Mutual. The company has announced that it already has 1000 agents signed up to join its new portal, 'Onthemarket', when it launches in early 2015.

Where this new launch differs from the previous attempts to break free of Rightmove high ransoms, is the agreed requirement, that those agents who sign up must then drop from one of the two major portals.

This disruption in the market could unsettle Rightmove and Zoopla from their perch. 

With 1000 agents already reportedly signed up equating to 3000 branches - about a quarter of the 12,000 branches estimated to exist in the UK this time the agents might just do it.

Agents Mutual are aiming to reach 5,000 branches prior to the launch of Onthemarket next year. 

Giddy up!