Self-employed agents saw their market share increase 1.8% in 2024, up 31% year-on-year, while online firms continue to plummet.
Self-employed agents proved particularly popular with vendors selling terraced houses and properties within the price bracket of £200k to £350k.
Self-employed agents’ market share rose by 0.4% 1.8% of the overall market, while online agents’ market share dropped by 0.4% to 5.2% of the overall market for new instructions – down 7% year-on-year.
For online agents, their market share of new instructions dropped across all price bands except £1m+ properties. Their sharpest drop in market share was seen in the least expensive properties of up to £200,000.
Regionally, online agents lost market share across the UK, except for the South West.
The sharpest fall in market share was recorded in the North, whereas self-employed agents gained market share everywhere, with the exception of Northern Ireland, where the model remains in its infancy. Their instructions were led by gains in the South West, the East, the North West and in Scotland.
The self-employed agency market share findings feature as part of the TwentyEA Property & Homemover End of Year 2024 Report that has just been released.
The report compares 2024 with 2023 to delve into the impact of the UK’s elevated interest rates and general cost of living challenges on the residential property market.
The report includes an overview of the state of the nation and unique insights that encompass:
+ Factual data (not modelled or sentiment-based)
+ Full market coverage
+ Demographic overlay
+ Property sales data
+ Property rental data
Key Headlines for 2024:
+ Sales Agreed have increased by 17% compared to 2023. In our 2023 report, we observed that a significant brake had been applied to the residential property market from the strong economic headwinds and the significant rise of interest rates and mortgage availability. Whilst many of these challenges persist, the desire to be an owner-occupier and the recalibration of affordability expectations have delivered a market that demonstrates both resilience and renewed momentum.
+ In 2024, residential property owners secured 97.1% of their initial asking price. With an average asking price of £407k, this equates to realising £395k.
+ Self-employed agents’ market share increased to 1.8% of the total market, with growth in all price bands. While self-employed agents have experienced growth in all regions of the UK (aside from Northern Ireland where the model does not exist), online agents have lost market share everywhere apart from the South-West.
+ By the end of 2024, buyers had 605K properties to choose from, up 8.3% from 2023. Availability of stock has increased in all price bands but is more concentrated in properties over £1m.
You can download the report here.