Estate agents signed up to OnTheMarket could now potentially earn ‘significant’ referral fees on land deals after the property portal today announced that it has agreed an exclusive commercial partnership with Brickflow, a new comparison site for development finance.

The new partnership, described as a ‘sector-first’ in the portal space, enables estate agents to offer an additional service to their land and new homes departments.

Brickflow, aimed primarily at the SME developer market, states that once an estate agent registers as a Brickflow user and inputs the developers’ project details, the platform compares loans from over 35 lenders.

By using proprietary algorithms and searching over 120 data points across each lender, Brickflow pairs the right development finance options with the project, returning instant results which the agent can email to the borrower via a link.

Brickflow claims that the conversion rate from heads of terms to loan completion is over 90%.

Loan offers range from £150,000 to £150m and are available for residential, commercial and mixed-use new-build, conversion and Permitted Development projects.

OnTheMarket agents who successfully refer leads for development finance via Brickflow will earn commission on the fees resulting from completed deals. With up to 50% of relevant fees on offer for the first deal, and up to 25% for further successful facility applications by the same client, using an example of a typical, initial £1.5m development loan, it is estimated that estate agents could earn around £7,500.

Jason Tebb, chief executive officer of OnTheMarket, said: “I’m very pleased to have agreed this exclusive commercial partnership, which is designed to help our estate agents generate meaningful revenues by building on their relationships with their developer clients.

“A recent survey of our membership showed that 35% of respondents reported that they made less than £150 per month in ancillary revenue from associated professional services such as mortgages, conveyancing and general insurance. We’re aiming to address this with commercial partnerships which are designed to help agents build multiple income streams across all parts of their business.

“Development finance is a significant opportunity for agents to create more income from an existing part of their business which currently is largely untapped; our new relationship with Brickflow changes that.”

Tebb continued: “There are many agents who have great relationships with local developers and SME housebuilders and some businesses have dedicated new homes departments which help to generate significant fees. These developers have historically struggled to source funding and make clear comparisons between the options available to them.

“Brickflow enables these developers to maximise their funding opportunities whilst at the same time galvanizing the relationship with their local estate agent, all via OnTheMarket. It’s another way that we’re supporting our customers and creating win-win outcomes for all involved.”

Ian Humphreys, co-founder and head of lending at Brickflow, added: “We believe our partnership with OnTheMarket is a great opportunity for agents to create more value for their property developer clients, giving them access to ground-breaking technology and saving time on sourcing development funding while also providing a significant secondary income stream for the agent.

“By giving agents and their developer clients instant access to the funding options available, they can very quickly determine whether they can proceed. Our team of development finance experts guide developers through the funding application process and can assist wherever required, significantly speeding up the loan approval process, meaning that offers on finance take hours and days, rather than weeks.”