Its website specialising in architecturally striking properties has long provided inspiration for well-heeled househunters, and escapism for many more who could never afford to live the dream it is peddling.
The Modern House is a go-to site for people who want to browse, or just gawp at, beautiful homes – from spacious apartments in former factories to futuristic Grand Designs-style new-builds. But now, the realities of the UK’s property market slowdown appear to have caught up with the company.
The Guardian has been told that The Modern House has cut up to 20%-25% of its staff in an apparent effort to reduce costs after growing rapidly during the pandemic.
Its own website this week listed 44 people working for the company – down from 61 in August. About 20 workers appear to have left since August, and an individual with connections to the business claimed most of these were made redundant during the past few weeks, with the editorial and marketing teams bearing the brunt.
The Modern House is one of a number of UK estate agent firms laying off workers or changing hands as rising interest rates and the cost of living crisis squeeze the sector and fuel worries about a possible house price crash.
However, some of those who regularly visit The Modern House’s beautifully laid-out website or Instagram feed to browse its “collections” – from rural retreats and brutalist homes to warehouse conversions and London mews houses – may not have even realised it is an estate agent, and perhaps assumed it was an upmarket interiors or lifestyle brand. In truth, it is probably both.
The Modern House was set up in 2005 by two friends, Albert Hill (formerly the architecture and design editor at Wallpaper* magazine) and Matt Gibberd (a former senior editor at The World of Interiors magazine) after Hill heard about a real estate firm in Florida specialising in mid-century modern houses and wondered whether something similar could work in the UK.
Its name was inspired by FRS Yorke’s 1934 book of the same name, which introduced modernist architecture to a British audience, and its target audience is wealthy young professionals searching for design-led properties “that pay attention to space, light, materials, nature and decoration” and are keen to live in “more thoughtful and beautiful ways”.
However, arguably its biggest audience – or fanbase – is people who, thanks to years of skyrocketing house prices, probably have no chance of being able to afford one of these light-filled loft apartments or sprawling barn conversions, but – to put it bluntly – like scrolling through a bit of “property porn” during an idle moment.
The company has moved far beyond its original roots, with various spin-offs and ventures. In addition to a sister platform for period properties called Inigo that launched in 2021, there is an Instagram feed with more than 750,000 followers (“Best interiors Instagram account” – Vogue), several coffee table books, a £15-an-issue glossy magazine, a podcast called Homing In, a YouTube channel, and an online directory of architects, designers and other brands endorsed by the firm.
Its headquarters is in a former ecclesiastical building in south London, but it also differs from many other estate agencies in not having a traditional high street branch network. It says that “we try not to define ourselves by a high street presence in a particular location”. However, it is signed up to the leading property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla.
The 300-plus properties listed for sale at the time of writing included a £9m penthouse near London’s Hyde Park, a £7.5m five-bedroom house in Surrey, and a striking detached property in Brighton with a £3.2m price tag.
The Modern House grew quickly during the pandemic, when millions of people stuck at home in lockdowns became hooked on browsing property websites as they plotted – or simply fantasised about – a new life, perhaps in the countryside, in a market town or on the coast.
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According to Companies House filings, The Modern House had 26 employees in 2019, shortly before Covid struck. By early 2022 this had climbed to 59, and it is thought the number of employees hit between 75 and 80 this year.
A recent post on Glassdoor – a website where people post anonymous reviews of their current or former employers – claimed leadership changes at the firm this year had “completely turned [the] company upside down,” and added that a shake-up “has resulted in a massive redundancy and lots of people leaving the company”.
The housing market has slowed in recent months as the Bank of England has raised interest rates sharply, with affordability constraints leaving many would-be buyers sitting on the sidelines. The Bank had raised interest rates at 14 consecutive rate-setting meetings up until September as it tried to tame inflation. On Thursday, it chose to keep the base rate on hold for a second time in a row at 5.25%.
Last month, the Halifax said UK house prices fell at their fastest annual rate in 14 years in September, while its rival lender Nationwide said property values fell by 5.3% in the year to September, with drops in price in every region of the country. However, Nationwide said on Wednesday that UK house prices rose unexpectedly by 0.9% month on month in October, although they were still down 3.3% year on year.
The Modern House – which declined multiple requests to speak to the Guardian – is not the only estate agent taking action in response to the slowdown. The property trade press recently reported that Knight Frank had initiated a redundancy consultation process with staff and had indicated that up to 3% of roles were at risk.
A fortnight ago, it emerged that one of the UK’s oldest estate agents, Chestertons, had been sold to a subsidiary of European real estate services and technology group Emeria for a reported £100m.
Earlier this year, shareholders in the online estate agent Purplebricks voted overwhelmingly to sell the company for only £1 to Strike, a competitor backed by the telecoms tycoon Sir Charles Dunstone.
