Sourced Group's acquisition of Open House Estate Agents marks one of the more significant consolidations in the UK's franchised property services sector this year, folding 104 franchisees into a network that now exceeds 230 outlets nationwide. On the surface this reads as a routine trade sale within a niche corner of the property industry. Look closer, however, and the deal illustrates a structural shift that matters far beyond the agents themselves: the slow but decisive professionalisation and consolidation of an industry that has historically been dominated by thousands of small, independently owned high street firms with limited access to capital.