Agents Vent Frustration as French Leader SeLoger Allows FSBO Listings

Leading French real estate vertical SeLoger has controversially begun to allow for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) listings on its website and app.

Since 2016, the AVIV Group-owned portal had allowed private individuals to list rental adverts with sale listings strictly for professional agents only.

However, last week SeLoger management decided to begin allowing private sellers to list on the portal. It was not immediately clear whether SeLoger would be charging users to add FSBO listings or whether the listings would appear on its sister portal Logic-Immo.

The inevitable backlash from the portal's customers was quick to arrive on social media. One agent on a popular Linkedin post called the move "a stab in the back" and several commenters threatened to cancel their SeLoger subscriptions.

SeLoger's decision to allow FSBO listings means that private individuals can now bypass agents and list their homes for sale directly on the two major players in the market.

FSBO Listings on French Portals

Although they are accepted on around half of the leading real estate portals around the world, FSBO listings are a controversial topic in many countries, especially those with highly professionalized agents.

In a market where an estimated 40% of real estate transactions do not involve an agent, French agents particularly dislike FSBO listings.

In a 2020 case that was the talk of the French real estate industry, a court dismissed the allegations of denigration brought by an incensed agents association FNAIM (which is a major stakeholder in the Bien'Ici portal) against specialist FSBO portal PAP.fr

Not only do agents dislike members of the public going it alone through platforms like PAP.fr but they have also come to resent real estate portals that allow FSBO listings and then sell those private sellers as mandate leads if and when the seller's efforts to sell their home without an agent don't work out.

Mandate leads are an increasingly important source of income for real estate portals in France with inventory very tight across the country. SeLoger's purchase of agent showcase site Meilleurs Agents in 2019 allowed the portal to charge for seller leads on a commission-share basis.