Purplebricks has announced its intention to quit Australia less than three years since it entered the market with its fixed-fee model and online platform.
The decision to quit Australia was revealed in a trading update on Tuesday morning in which Purplebricks highlighted that a combination of "increasingly challenging" market conditions and "execution errors" had lead to a substantial shortfall in progress.
"We’ve been operating here for two and half years and, unfortunately, we have been unable to make the progress in the Australian market that we’ve wanted, despite the tireless efforts of our employees.
"The board has therefore concluded that the prospective returns from Australia are not sufficient to justify continued investment," the company said.
"Our present intention is that, over the next few months, we manage the process of closing down the Australian business in an orderly way, attempting to minimise disruption for both our people and our customers.
"We will take no further listings in Australia, but intend to engage with our customers to finalise all existing agreements.
"This is not a decision we have taken lightly, but with market conditions becoming increasingly challenging, we do not believe that the prospective returns in Australia are enough to justify continued investment."
Only last week it was announced that the company was not likely to make money in Australia until 2022, while eatlier in the month it was forecasted that Purplebricks would potentially have to close its Australian operations to save the UK mothership.
Michael Bruce, the group's founder and chief executive officer is stepping down from the business with immediate effect.
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