Purplebricks launched yesterday in Australia – weeks ahead of expectations, and apparently catching the market on the hop – and with CEO Michael Bruce reiterating that the UK business will become profitable “during the course of this year”.

Purplebricks had previously said only that an Australian launch would be before Christmas.

At the start of the weekend, it had a website up and running in Australia and the Australian press has now reported the launch – with one headline suggesting that Australians’ dislike of estate agents will fuel Purplebricks’ success.

Purplebricks itself made the announcement in the UK yesterday. One striking feature is that it will be charging Australian sellers far more than British ones – over three times as much.

The firm, which made UK revenues of £18.6m in the year to April but £12m losses, is to plough £10m into the Australian business over two years. It is initially focusing on Melbourne and Brisbane before rolling out to Sydney, Perth and Adelaide later this year.

It believes it can break even there within that time, by undercutting the average 2.2% fees charged by existing agents. Purplebricks says the Australian residential property market is worth £3.3bn.

Australian Purplebricks CEO Ryan Dinsdale has been recruiting local property experts and Purplebricks launched with 50 in Melbourne and south east Queensland.

Sellers will be charged a flat $4,500 (£2,616) fee to sell their home through Purplebricks. For those selling a $614,000 (£357,000) median-priced home this will be $11,500 (£6,690) cheaper than if they used a traditional Australian estate agent charging a 2.2% commission.

The £2,616 fee compares with £798 in the UK (£1,158 in and around London).

The Purplebricks price in Australia includes photography, marketing and advertising on the UK equivalents of Rightmove and Zoopla, Domain.com.au and RealEstate.comau.

With auctions playing a strong role in the Australian property market, Purplebricks is offering an additional auction facility, with a top-up fee of $825 (£480). This includes an auctioneer and all open housing viewings accompanied by a local property expert.

In an interview with the Australian Financial Review, Purplebricks CEO Michael Bruce said he was confident of emulating the rapid success achieved in Britain, where Purplebricks has grown to be Britain’s third largest estate agency in under two years.

He told the publication: “Australians are infatuated with real estate. For us, it’s great because it means they will embrace our model as they have done in the UK.

“We grew to 300 local property experts in the UK in less than two years; it could be a lot quicker in Australia.”

The article also refers to Purplebricks’ successful float on the stock market, with a market value of £300m ($520m), which is three times more than Australia’s only listed agent McGrath.

John McGrath, executive director, said: “Most of our clients have no issue with the fees we charge.”

Another story in the Australian press quotes from a report commissioned by Purplebricks which says that estate agents are earning far more than they did 30 years ago: from $1,970 to over $13,500, because of house price inflation.

The same story also says that Purplebricks has a “nearly identical model” to Hello Real Estate which launched in September last year. In January, it abandoned plans to list on the stock market, while the number of licensees has dropped from 41 to 30.

It draws attention to Purplebricks’ losses in the UK, but quotes Bruce as saying that the business will become profitable in Britain “during the course of this year”.

Dinsdale says on his LinkedIn profile: “I am extremely privileged and excited to be bringing Purplebricks to Australia.

“We are changing the way Australians sell real estate, giving them the best experience through incredible service and saving them thousands of dollars along the way.

“Purplebricks has been a huge success in the UK and we believe it is exactly what the Australian public have been waiting for.”

As well as Dinsdale, the management team in Australia includes Luke Pervan as national sales director, and Joby Russell, chief marketing officer, who relocates from the UK business.

As chief marketing officer of Purplebricks in the UK, Russell caused a stir last month when he sold 243,618 shares shares  at 140p per share, netting him £341,065 after  owning them for just ten days.

He had exercised an option to buy them at 12.93p, costing him a total of £31,499.

In ten days he therefore made a profit of £309,566 – equating to £30,956 per day for ten days. We carried the story here

Bruce himself said in yesterday’s official announcement in the UK: “Australia is a natural second market for us to target. It is a large and fiercely competitive real estate environment, but one where sellers are currently receiving poor value for money.

“We will offer the Australian public far greater transparency and a fairer way to sell their homes.

“We are very excited about the size of the market opportunity there, and believe that the expansion outside of the UK provides both additional returns for investors and the benefit of diversified income streams.”