Independent estate agents are earning up to £56,000 for each employee, according to new figures provided by Company Insight.
The firm analysed the finances of close to 50 estate agents, with a view to assessing their financial and operational performance.
The data, compiled from groups, subsidiaries, independents and online estate agents and used as a benchmarking tool by which to assess performance, shows that Connells Group, which includes Countrywide, is the largest estate agent by turnover. It also operates the most offices, 1,250, which is more than double any other agency.
The analysis from the UK Estate Agents Company Insight data also reveals that Dexters currently has the second largest operating profit of any company, group, or subsidiary.
Operating margins were healthy for the majority of estate agents, but online estate agents Purplebricks and YOPA continued to post losses.
Highlights from the research includes:
Connells Group has more than five times the number of employees as LRG
Connells Group also operates the most offices, 1,250 compared to the nearest (600 offices)
Depending on business model, turnover per employee ranges from £40,000 to £314,000
Profit per employee was as high as £56,215 for an independent
London-based businesses have the highest turnover per office. The average of all companies analysed was £733,409
Dexters has the largest profit per office of the companies analysed (and top six – on this metric – are independents)
Including the impact of acquisitions, Connells had the largest growth in turnover. Virtually all companies increased turnover
Whilst virtually all companies analysed grew turnover, operating profit performance varied
Further analysis shows that groups, subisidiaries, independents, and online agents have a broad range of turnover streams (between property sales turnover, lettings turnover, financial products turnover, conveyancing turnover and other turnover).
EYE requested to see the full detailed performance analysis of the largest estate agents groups in the UK, which Company Insight has compiled. But our request was denied, as the company intends to sell the data; “we want to tease potential customers rather than just giving data away for free”.
Paul Chapman, head of Company Insight, told EYE that the restriction of data “is deliberate”.
“A lot of time and effort went into collecting the data and we are selling the data,” he added.
‘Up to’ so could be earning £1?
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More or less, yes. Here are some profit per employee numbers from randomly selected companies. I am the author btw.
Foxtons: £5,978 (2021)
Peter Alan (Connells): £14,281 (2021)
Arun Estate Agencies: £26,065 (2021)
YOPA: -£27,181 (2021)
Data goes back to 2018 for most, so we have data on how this has evolved too. Hope this helps.
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Lol, well I suppose it confirms that independent estate agents on the high street are profitable than on-line only, in the bedroom model which have nothing like the overheads or access to the consumer, or more importantly the consumers wishes (I’m vindicated, lol)
I think there will be more than a few agent’s raising an eyebrow at the claim of turnover per employee, maybe they should take a look at smaller agents and are they talking gross or net profit? There are more than a few big agents with loans?
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You are correct in that data can be skewed depending on business model (franchises tend to skew). But here are some examples of turnover per employee for guidance. Rettie & Co: £83,271 (2021) Sequence (Connells): £70,881 (2021) There was one independent with turnover per employee of £183,000 (2021). 🙂 Hope this helps.
Oh and yes, both YOPA and Purplebricks were not profitable.
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We’ve seen a few of these articles where many numbers are published and I continually struggle with their relevance. I’m reading this and I’m left with a feeling of, “So what?” Or actually more to the point, why is this relevant? How can I use the information to improve my business? It certainly doesn’t make me want to pay for the more detailed findings.
A small pat on the back to PIE for at least asking for more details. Data source and analysis methodology at the very least would be useful to know, Profit per employee is a pretty blunt tool that only really works when comparing the same-sized (staff or turnover or both) businesses in the same sector. An independent estate agent isn’t the same as a large corporate, or a franchise or an online-only one. They fall under the broad umbrella of estate agents but they are fundamentally different.
To say that “…turnover per employee ranges from £40,000 to £314,000…” is to almost say nothing. What could you possibly conclude from such a ratio variation? Imagine this. “Thank you Mr & Mrs Smith for allowing me to appraise your property. I think in today’s market, you should consider a price of between £500,000 and £3,925,000”
Finally, I think this might edge towards an advertorial on the premise that the article clearly states that Company Insight wants to sell the data!!
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I welcome comments like these. Im the author. Any data published in a press release is to provide interest for the overall analysis not to give data / analysis away for free. Even estate agents don’t work for free. 🙂
I don’t think the comparison with the valuation to the Smiths is helpful. The data source is provided on the website where the product page is, it’s not a secret. It’s all public data. I don’t think I need to provide methodology on fairly simple operating profit per employee (methodology: take the turnover and divide it by number of employees).
It’s a good question. Why pay for the data? I would say private equity companies looking to enter the sector would be interested in the metrics. Virtually all companies covered grew turnover but not all companies grew or maintained operating profit. You could argue that owners / managers over focus on revenue but how many are holding a firm hand on the tiller of costs? This data shows that.
I’d also say that metrics like revenue per employee would be interesting to know. Why is Keatons’ turnover per employee nearly double that of Reeds Rains (LSL)? It could be useful for management to purchase the data to measure where their performance is against others.
Also, an historical analysis can be useful to show a trend of performance over time. A stable turnover and operating margin is an indication of a well run business. Furthermore, it’s quite evident that the London-centric agents outperform others on specific metrics.
Hope this helps. Oh and I wasn’t asked to submit as an advertorial.
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Correction 🙂 I don’t think I need to provide methodology on fairly simple turnover per employee (methodology: take the turnover and divide it by number of employees).
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The question of methodology is in the selection criteria for the 50 or so estate agents analysed and what constitutes an estate agent. I get it’s a simple matter of division! With 23,000+ estate agency businesses in the UK, 50 is a very small data sample.
If that’s your audience, how many private equity firms or individuals are active on PIE? I’ll rephrase the question and ask, what is the relevance of your report to an independent estate agent with 1-10 offices and 50 or fewer staff? i.e. the majority of the PIE readership!
£495-£995 feels like a lot of money to spend. Especially as Company Insight, the brand name of Orion Commercial Limited (company number 12058289) is listed on Companies House as not trading…
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Largest companies, with the greatest turnover. Including groups, subsidiaries, independents and online companies. As you must know, Companies House has a threshold for submissions of accounts, so those above the threshold. Of course you could have just assessed that by looking at the names of estate agents covered on companyinsight.co.uk.
Wasnt trading, is now trading. So what? What has the price got to do with that fact other than a really weak attempt at sabotage. I’ll rely on my accountants advice and Ill inform Companies House in my own good time. I am so bored of the weak sauce. I guess it must be of interest as this week I’ve had near on a hundred sample requests and several sales. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it, I guess.
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Cut down on the caffeine. Go for a walk. Working on your own can be isolating. Stress is not good for those in their 50s.
Everyone needs a hobby. If yours is taking free data, putting it into a spreadsheet and running a few formulas, then fair enough. If it makes a few pennies then even better. Although, I do struggle with how a PDF document can be “out of stock”. Based on the sample forwarded to me, it’s not about affordability but value for money. You clearly don’t need any assistance with sabotaging your business.
Now, I have more interesting things to do today. De-worming the cat is top of the list…
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