iad UK has more than tripled the size of its agent network over the past year as the self-employed estate agency model continues to expand.
The network has grown from 58 to more than 185 agents in 12 months. Its expansion has included the acquisition of self-employed agency brokerage Avocado Property earlier this year.
Scotland is also becoming a significant part of the group’s UK growth strategy.
Around 40 agents recently joined iad UK following the transition of the former Keller Williams Scotland operation.
The expansion will bring senior iad executives to Glasgow this week as the group considers its next stage of growth north of the border.
Scottish network expands
Clément Delpirou, president of iad Group, will visit Glasgow for the first time to meet agents from the newly expanded Scottish operation.
He will be joined on Thursday by Manuel Pasqua, managing director of iad Italy and senior executive for mergers and acquisitions in Europe.
The visit will include training, business development and discussions about further expansion.
The UK business forms part of a much larger international network. iad Group has around 20,000 independent agents operating across eight countries.
Its agents currently market more than 130,000 properties online. The group reports annual turnover of just under £525m.
Delpirou said: “iad has grown by proving that you can build scale in estate agency without losing the entrepreneurship and local relationships that make great agents successful.
“The development of our Scottish network is an important part of that next chapter, but this is about much more than adding numbers to a map.
“We want to give ambitious property professionals in Scotland the technology, training, mentoring and international network around them to build stronger businesses of their own.”
Further growth on the agenda
Pasqua will bring experience from iad’s expansion in Italy. The business launched there in 2018 and has since grown to almost 1,000 agents.
He said: “Coming to Glasgow is an opportunity to share some of what we have learned through that journey, but also to learn from the Scottish network as it develops.
“Scotland will build its own success in its own way like Italy and many other countries have done under the iad Group. The model may be international, but successful estate agency will always be built locally.”
Stephen Pye, head of the Orion Constellation at iad UK, said the international network provided infrastructure for self-employed agents.
“It means having the freedom to build something of your own, without having to build everything from scratch.
“We already have a fantastic group of experienced, entrepreneurial agents across Scotland.
“Thursday is about bringing that international experience into the room, combining it with the knowledge we already have here and giving our agents practical ideas and connections they can take straight back into their businesses.”
