Globrix is to become part of the Daily Mail’s Digital Property Group, becoming part of the same stable as FindaProperty and PrimeLocation.

Just weeks after The Times shed their interest in Globrix, the Daily Mail group – through its digital publishing arm AND – has now bought a 50% stake in the site and has said it will make “significant” investment in its new acquisition.

Globrix founder Dan Lee is stepping down as chief executive and will run a software enterprise in which AND has also invested.

The acquisition astonished staff at Digital – who had no idea it was a possibility – and has surprised others, including its competitors, who do not understand how a free offering can tie in with charging models.

When The Times cut its stake in Globrix, Lee said he was delighted with the management buy-out, which was announced in early December. He also said at the time that Globrix would continue to power the property search functions for both The Sun and The Times. Whether the Daily Mail group will be happy with this arrangement remains to be seen.

The new deal means that the combined traffic of the Digital sites is now 2.5m (Comscore’s figure for November), closing the gap with Rightmove which had 2.9m visitors for the same month.

A spokesman for Digital said there was only a 12% crossover in traffic between the group’s existing sites and Globrix.

Mark Milner, chief executive for Digital, said: “It is important that I immediately stress that Globrix will remain a free-to-list portal.

“The addition of Globrix to the Digital network is indicative of our desire to offer agents and consumers a compelling proposition. Together, we will have the most complete inventory in the market and continue our drive to offer consumers, estate agents and developers a unique solution.

“It will also help us towards our ambition of having a relationship with every agent in the land.

“Importantly, those Digital customers not currently feeding to Globrix can also now access this additional channel.”

Globrix launched in 2008. The price AND paid for its 50% stake has not been disclosed.