It’s been another hectic week for the industry, here is what has caught our eye.

First: Stakes and shares

It was an interesting week for business.

First the industry digested news that emerged at the end of last week that Savills has taken a stake in online agent YOPA.

Savills insisted this wouldn’t affect its status with OnTheMarket.

A spokesperson for Savills told EYE: “As this is an investment rather than an acquisition, both companies will continue to operate entirely independently; therefore they will make their own choices regarding the property portals on which they choose to list.”

Separately, eMoov’s Russell Quirk said news of Savills’ investment in YOPA was a boost for the sector.

PeeBee was less impressed, adding: “YOPA cannot list on OTM.

“Savills cannot list on OTM and more than one other portal.

“Of course, Savills would never ‘sub’ out any of their properties to an oline to gain more exposure on different platforms……would they?

“So the two are probably as far apart as chalk and CACO3.”

Then if that wasn’t enough news to get the week going, Belvoir announced the acquisition of Northwood, the largest remaining independent lettings franchise in the UK.

The £22m deal, part-funded by the placing of new shares, adds a further 86 offices to the Belvoir network, and takes the total number of outlets to 301.

GlennAckroyd responded: “This takeover makes perfect sense and Northwood have got a reasonable price for a private sale.”

EYE reader iainwhite87 added: ”Good luck to the teams at both Belovoir and Northwoods a real powerhouse to be reckoned with but lots of hard work ahead to intergrate and merge cultures and process.”

Second: EU referendum

Uncertainty over the EU referendum may be starting to hit the property market, with prime central London feeling the brunt.

One agent, W.A. Ellis, is advising landlords to cut rents.

Richard Barber, director at W.A. Ellis, said: “According to LonRes, only 110 houses have sold within SW1, SW3, SW7, SW10, W8, and W14, which is indicative not just of the hesitancy surrounding the EU referendum, but the huge increase in the cost of moving at the upper end of the market.

“Various apocalyptic visions of what may or may not happen if we leave the EU on June 23 have continued to confound the electorate over the last two months.

“As a result, it would appear that buying a new property has been put on hold by the majority of potential purchasers until the future of the UK is determined.”

Farmer commented: “It’s the same ‘up north’ while the number of listings has probably halved, the number of sales agreed is somewhat less.

“If it turns out to be a ‘No’ vote I’d start and look to re-deploying staff cleaning cars or walking dogs for the summer.”

RICS was equally pessimistic, claiming house prices were set for their first decline in four years.

But PropertyPaddy sees this as more of a London issue, commenting: “Only South East / London is under any real risk of a house price correction. I suspect they will stagnate, and the rest of the UK is now on catch up mode.”

Third: Videos

EYE has launched a new videos section, and you can be the main attraction.

Readers are welcome to post videos commenting on EYE stories or the big issues of the day.

We have designed a webpage where you can easily submit your own video and see what others have posted.

We want to hear and see your views on the big stories of the day as well as what is going on in your business.

Find out more on our videos page.