Oxford to License Its Tech Platform to Rival Brokerages

Oxford Property Group is making its new back-end platform available to anyone willing to pay the fee.

The platform, which takes care of administrative and back-end accounting jobs, is priced at $5,000 a month for a 10-person team, or $750 a month for an owner and two-person team. Pricing varies based on the number of users.

“We’re treating it as a pilot right now and seeing what the demand is,” said Oxford CEO Adam Mahfouda.

It will initially be available in tri-state area markets where Oxford operates.

The strategy differs from that of other firms, like Compass, which use their platforms as recruiting tools, although Compass has floated the idea of licensing out its technology in markets where it doesn’t operate.

Mahfouda, in assessing why others don’t lease their platforms, gave his larger rival a dig.

“Compass, as much as they say they’re about the agent, I think they’re about their own brand,” said the CEO. “They won’t share their technology because they want the agent to work for Compass and they believe Compass sells property. We don’t think that’s true. Agents sell properties.”

Licensing out the platform is also a way for his 100-percent commission firm to bring in more dough than it would by having a team join the company. Under Oxford’s model, teams can pay $495 a month to the brokerage and keep all of their commissions, or pay $95 a month and a 10 percent transaction fee.

Oxford’s acquisitions led to the platform’s development. The firm in 2020 bought brokerages Spire Group and Kian Realty and last year acquired Level Group. Each brand operates under its own name and license but works under the same corporate umbrella and shares infrastructure.

The company needed an internal platform to keep everything straight, Mahfouda said.
The Level Group acquisition brought Oxford Property’s headcount to 814, making it the sixth largest brokerage. But the merger didn’t have a significant impact on its sales figures: Oxford fell off The Real Deal’s Manhattan brokerage rankings last year, after finishing tied for 24th the year prior. Level moved up two spots to 20th.