Booming young independent agency set to hit £1.5m tu...

A young independent agency in Manchester is set to hit a £1.5m turnover target after just 18 months following the addition of over 450 units to its management portfolio since the start of the year.

Ascend Properties broke through its 1,000 managed units target less than a year ago and has since opened a flagship branch on Deansgate in Manchester.

This year it has secured new managed units in Manchester, Stockport, Wakefield, Halifax, and is now extending its activities to Portsmouth.

“This year alone we’ve transacted on more than £15.1m worth of property on behalf of clients in Manchester. Sales instructions are up 300 per cent and management instructions have gone through the roof. We’re well on track to hit our year end targets, a remarkable achievement for a business which has been trading less than two years” says Ged McPartlin, director of Ascend and a former director of Manchester’s Curtis & Bains, which was snapped up by Countrywide in 2014.

“We like to think we’ve broken the mould of a conventional agent. The rise in the number of managed units is in direct response to the way we do things. Our portfolio team act as asset managers which allows landlords and investors to have a total hands-off approach” he says.

The firm says it is pioneering new ways of working and attracting business. “We said goodbye to ‘postcard-in-a-window’ type of marketing a long time ago and have utilised the power of interactive touch screens in our windows, social media and a whole host of other channels to ensure our clients are well serviced” says McPartlin.