It’s been another hectic week for the industry with portal juggling getting more attention and trading updates from some of the big names

First, portal juggling started to go mainstream

Portal juggling has been a key area of concern for EYE readers for months, and finally the mainstream press is taking notice.

The Financial Times covered portal juggling using data from property search engine Propcision, which explained: “What we found was surprising. The data suggested a pattern whereby a property appeared to be listed for sale, removed, and then almost immediately relisted for sale on the property portal.”

But agents seem cynical about the prospects for the practice being stamped out, with Robert May commenting: “If you have a business that derives its revenue, credibility and leverage from traffic it is easy to see how and why portal juggling might be a tolerated soft crime.”

Second: 396!

That is the number of words in a short trading update from Countrywide.

Countrywide said house exchanges across the group were ahead 30% on last year.

CEO Alison Platt said: “We are encouraged by the strong performance delivered in the first quarter and remain on track to pilot our customer focused multi-channel proposition in three brands during the second quarter.

“Mindful of the political and economic uncertainty surrounding the EU referendum we are taking a cautious view of the coming months.

“Notwithstanding this, however, we continue to expect to make strong progress in 2016 as we execute our strategy and maximise market opportunities and therefore maintain our current financial outlook for the full year.”

Third: Why did you start in agency?

On our Arena forum EYE readers are still providing plenty of inspiration on why they started in agency.

Smile please said: “Why I love agency is, if you work hard you are rewarded. Why I hate it at times is that It is largely a thankless job in that the public never know the stresses.

“Tips to being successful, surround yourself with motivated, trustworthy and happy people.”