The impending arrival of Purplebricks in Australia is already causing some waves.

It is interesting to see from the media coverage both how similar and how different is the Australian market from the UK’s.

In the UK, how many vendors look to bypass sales agents by going to buying agents? In Australia, one buyer’s agent says he gets two or three calls a day from sellers wanting to tap into his database of high-end buyers.

Why? “[Because] No one knows who an estate agent is really working for any more and the bad ones let everyone down. It’s greed. They can’t help themselves, it’s like they’ve been given the keys to the blood bank.”

If the perception of high fees and lack of trust are issues in Australia, apparently the real disruption is coming from agency review sites.

There are apparently half a dozen of them, they are well funded, and the public is unaware that they charge agents 20% of their commissions for every successful lead.

More here