An American franchise operation which launched in the UK just over a year ago says it is performing ahead of expectations.

Donald Morris, who has the UK master franchise for Keller Williams, says that there are now three “market centres” and 90 self-employed agents in London and a further 16 in Leeds.

Between them, they currently have just over 300 properties available for sale or rent at a market worth of £350m.

He says: “Our business plan was to launch two to three new centres a year and recruit agents at the rate of two a month. In ract, we have been recruiting at the rate of seven to ten.

“We also have a strong pipeline of both agents and franchisees wanting to join us.”

Keller Williams’ current market centres are in Victoria and Mayfair, London, and in Leeds, with new market centres likely to open in south east London and Manchester.

The market centres have no shop fronts – which Morris describes as unnecessary.

He says: “The traditional estate agency model of a branch in the high street is outmoded.

“Footfall has been declining at the rate of 7%-9% each year for the past six years.

“Footfall to high street banks has been going down at the rate of 6%-7% over the same period. This is not an industry thing, but a behavioural thing.”

He says that the market centres provide “professional” space which clients can visit and where, he said, they are more comfortable than being in a visible street-level shop.

Morris also emphasises that Keller Williams is really a coaching and training company – “one that just happens to be in estate agency, but we are the number one training company in the world”.

Agents have to commit to its training, which has the reputation of being loud and shouty even by American standards but which has apparently been toned down over here.

So far, a number of American franchise operations have tried to crack the UK market but there successes have been – let’s say – understated. (Of course, you could say exactly the same of the British agents that have tried to crack the American market and have come back with their tails between their legs.)

But why would Keller Williams be any different? “We are focused on agents rather than our brokers [the franchisees who run the market centres],” Morris says.

“We do not lose sight of the fact that we make our money when our agents sell properties.”

Agents are, bluntly, chosen (“We award franchisees, not sell them”) for their entrepreneurial qualities and desire to enhance their own personal wealth.

Typically, Morris claims, they will earn two to three times what an employed agent would.

They do not pay much upfront – £1,200 – but must be prepared to hand over a chunk of their annual earnings.

In London, he says this is up to £60,000 and in Leeds, the sum is capped at £30,000.

The sums do seem a bit more than this, though. Morris cites a typical agent’s earnings in London at £216,000. They would keep £140,000 of this, with £16,000 going to the UK franchisor, and £60,000 to the international head office.

Morris says that underpinning the UK operation is that “this is a global franchise but very much a British business”.

Could anything go wrong?

Morris concedes that of all Keller Williams’ markets, the UK estate agency sector is the “toughest in the world”.

He also says that one challenge agents are currently facing is the number of “over-priced properties in London which are not moving”. He says this applies to both sales and rental properties.

With yet another US franchise starting up in the UK, in the form of Coldwell Banker Real Estate, it will be interesting to see just how much of a challenge these American operations mount.