Proptech expert Eddie Homes has expressed surprise at Yopa’s argument that it is already the second largest online agent behind Purplebricks, before any merger between Emoov and Tepilo.

He has not queried that Yopa is in second place but said that the marginal cost to investors of the additional 41 listings they claimed is not something that he would have chosen to draw attention to, in their shoes.

Holmes sent us figures apparently showing that Yopa has had more investment (including from Savills and LSL) than Emoov and Tepilo combined, at £55m v £31m.

The war of words began when it emerged last week that Emoov and Tepilo are in merger talks involving a so-far un-named third party. It was said that the new merged body would become the second largest entity behind Purplebricks.

However, Yopa disputed this, saying that it already has more property listings than Emoov and Tepilo combined.

This, in turn, has now been queried by Holmes, whose number crunching is in the charts below. These allege that in addition to the £585,00 per listing extra YOPA has spent to win those 41 listings, YOPA’s CPA, or “’cost per acquisition’,” is also much higher than their competitors.

ATL stands for ‘above the line’ – ie advertising that can be seen, as in TV. CPA stands for cost per acquisition.

Holmes said: “Over half a million quid for each listing! There is further evidence that the Yopa ship isn’t sailing as well as she might.”

He said that this included rumours of key people at Yopa being sidelined or having left, particularly the movement of the founder, Dan Attia, to the role of chairman

We have put the entire sums and everything that Holmes is claiming to Yopa, which declined to comment, saying it wanted to correct the original claims but did not wish to enter into a war of words.

Amount Invested
Yopa £           55,000,000
Emoov £           16,000,000
Tepilo £           15,000,000
Total £           86,000,000
Difference £           24,000,000
Additional Listings 41
Marginal Investment per Additional Listing £           585,365.85
2017 Purplebricks Yopa Emoov Tepilo
           
Month Listings ATL Spend ATL CPA Listing ATL Spend ATL CPA Listing ATL Spend ATL CPA Listing ATL Spend ATL CPA
Aug 5536 £1,778,431 £321 504 £50,503 £100 360 £308 £1 321 £74,169 £231
Sep 5602 £1,462,620 £261 508 £1,129,031 £2,223 380 £0 £0 331 £130,725 £395
Oct 5363 £988,665 £184 501 £758,606 £1,514 318 £0 £0 293 £128,322 £438
Nov 4548 £787,485 £173 450 £738,873 £1,642 213 £0 £0 262 £40,531 £155
Dec 2961 £391,287 £132 344 £350,751 £1,020 119 £0 £0 171 £21,582 £126
Grand Total 58875 £5,408,488 £214 5330 £3,027,764 £1,300 3478 £308 £0 3703 £395,329 £269