More vendors are using an online agent – and the majority are reporting that they are doing so successfully.
According to the new State of the Property Nation report from Zoopla, 24% of 399 sellers sampled used an online agent within the last year, double the number of three to five years ago.
Making up the 24% were 19% who sold and 5% who did not.
The figures are far higher than market share estimates, albeit based on a small sample.
However, the report also this year asked a much larger sample of 3,221 consumers whether they had ever used an online agent – ie, not just in the last 12 months.
A proportion of 8% had, with 6% selling and 2% not selling through an online agent.
Even so, the 8% was up on the 6% the previous year when the same question was asked of a sample of 2,136.
The report also found that growing numbers of consumers would be likely to use an online agent next time they sell a property, with 46% likely, 34% unsure and 11% unlikely.
The statistics compare with last year’s, when 42% were likely to use an online agent, 36% were unsure and 12% were unlikely.
The new report says that vendors using online agents do so for transparency about fees and the process; confidence that they will sell quickly; confidence that they will negotiate the best price; and their use of the portals and their online presence.
Lowest fees comes bottom of the list of five reasons for choosing an online agent.
However, openness around fees and the selling process is the most important factor for vendors when choosing any type of agent, says the report.
Over 6,000 consumers and 660 agents were surveyed for the report.
These included 1,351 buyers, 399 sellers, 239 landlords, 464 tenants, 1,257 people browsing properties and 529 first-time buyers.
Just over half the estate agents (54%) had only one branch and 67% of all the agents were on the high street. Just 11% were online agents, with 17% describing themselves as high street but with an online option.
Most of the agents (81%) expect revenues to grow or stay the same next year.
This is despite concerns over the economy felt by 64%, followed by pressure to lower fees £51%) and lack of stock (49%).
The relative confidence in incomes is also despite 38% of agents expecting revenue from lettings to decrease next year, when the tenant fees ban is expected to be implemented.
However, agents are planning to increase their use of marketing and technology; offer more advice to sellers and landlords on price and rent; and expand their service offering.
Charlie Bryant, managing director of Zoopla’s property division, said: “The annual State of the Property Nation report has captured the sentiment of thousands of consumers and estate agents over the last three years and provides an in-depth snapshot on the property market and the business of estate agencies.
“The political and economic uncertainty surrounding Brexit is understandably influencing consumer behaviour which is having a knock-on effect for agents in parts of the country.
“However, despite the obvious challenges, the majority are well-positioned to grow their business.”
The report was launched on Friday in a webinar presented by Phil Spencer.
Both the webinar and the full report are here: advantage.zpg.co.uk
It won’t be long before Zooplankton will become an online agent itself. That’s why I’ve never rejoined, even if it is only £120 pcm.
The key to sucess is increasing fees.
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Still not sure what’s in it for rightmove and zoopla. The way they have supported pay any way model seems to invite the end of their businesses as well. Most agents will have to go bespoke soon and come off rightmove just to survive.
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I took a sample from the last 50 people who sold through me and 100% used a high street agent.
Okay it’s a small sample but it’s up from 0% from when we opened a decade ago.
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Precisely. A ridiculously small sample. Transparency of fees? They mean the clients were either brainwashed by the advertising or simply justifying their actions.
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Be the first to share it all over social media and comment etc if was a sample of 50 people claiming they hate the online sector and the survey said the high street got them more money etc. #doublestandards
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It is impossible for agents to sell every single property so if you are one of the vendors who is unfortunately not able to sell your property, what is the alternative?
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Mr Impartial
“It is impossible for agents to sell every single property…”
Sorry – but you are incorrect.
Unlikely? – yes.
But not “impossible”.
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Think you are being a little pedantic in regards to the point. Of course it is not impossible, but it is very unlikely. in which case there will always be sellers that struggle to sell and will need to appoint maybe an online agent. If you x this by all the property in the UK that makes a business for online agents. If local high street agents sold every property there would be no moaning about the like of RM because the HSA would have incredibly successful businesses with huge profits, the fact that they don’t generally means they cant sell every property available.
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So…
,,,what you’re saying is that a vendor, who has marketed their property – unsuccessfully – with a High Street Agent AT NO COST TO THEMSELVES will think it’s a chuffing good idea to then instruct a NO SALE PAY REGARDLESS “online agent” at SIGNIFICANT COST TO THEMSELVES to potentially achieve the same result?
Matey-boy – whatever it is you’re sniffing – you REALLY should give it up.
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You sound like a really arrogant Real Estate agent that believes that everything has to go through then and if you cant sell it no one can. You are not looking at it from the sellers view point. It is not always about fees that are paid to the Real Estate agent. HSA do not sell every property, there are alternatives, you just dont like to believe that there is.
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“You sound like a really arrogant Real Estate agent…”
Not me, chum.
You, on the other hand, sound like the predictable PR machine for online/hybrid/whatever-the-buzzword Agency – your drab momotone hum of billshuttery and *********** (credit:Jonnie) now being overtaken by the squeal of your gears grinding in the minds of the public, who are fast cottoning on to the reality.
#TRUTH_IS_COMING_HOME
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Yawn
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The yawn isn’t surprising, seeing as you were up like a rooster with a sniff of the hen at three bells trying to be a smart@r$e.
It’s the most engaging post I’ve seen from you on this site, actually.
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As PeeBee says, unlikely but certainly not impossible. If the price is reasonable and your agent is a proven winner and not just a cheap option, there is every chance the property will sell. Of the vast majority of properties that don’t sell, price is more than often the principal sticking point.
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Thats is an irrelevent point. The point is that regartless of what the vendor wants to choose as his price or what he thinks it is worth there will always be properties that the local high street agents cannot sell and thus the vendor will want to seek alternaitves.
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Mr Impartial
What exactly is it you believe a Call Centre Lister can do that a high street Full Service agent can’t?
Every property will sell at a price that someone else is willing to pay….every property.
The only properties that I have ever failed to sell are where the owners want more than the best buyer, who wants it the most, is willing to pay!
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I dont believe that they can do anything differnt to a real estate agent on the high street. I woudl argue that the HSA agent can do more. All I am saying is that you cannot assume that every sellers wants to use your services and some people want to use other means to sell their property. just becuae you THINK you have the winning formula, does not mean everyone si going to use it, and you cant say with 100% honesty that you sell every single property. The idea is for property to have multiple buyers to drive the price up so maybe by listings with more than one source they might achieve that rather than listings with one HSA.
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Where your suggestion falls down is that to negotiate the very best sale price from multiple offers you need to have the full picture of all the offers, not just a snapshot of part of it.
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And you shouldn’t assume that if a vendor fails to sell through an HSA, the alternative is to then pay up front to use the likes of Burplepricks. They are more likely to withdraw from the market altogether.
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And tomorrow’s Party Political Broadcast is from…
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Interesting for Zoopla to release a report like this bearing in mind the vast majority of its subscribers are high street estate agents. I bet less than 1% of its income is from PB, Doorknobs etc. With this likely being the case, i would have to echo the above by wondering if Z are going to make the jump into becoming a realtor?
Either way if there is going to be casualty from any OTM flourish once the freebie period ends Z is more likely than RM
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We’re an online agent. We also have a shop office and provide a full service. Most independent agents are ‘online’.
The real difference is the level of personal service delivered. They should be referred to as ‘Call Centre Listers’!
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Presumably using @Zoopla s’ own data which it has publicly admitted to the @ASA_UK it doesn’t cross-check and, was demonstrated during a recent @ASA_UK case, does not agree with data from @HMLandRegistry @rightmove and other property-centric firms/ analysts data sources.
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The biggest issue with surveys of this type is to do with definitions and interpretation. Specifically, how do you even define an “online agent”? I have yet to hear a satisfactory definition.
Aren’t nearly all of us “online agents”? Which estate agents are NOT “online”?
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‘Online estate agents’ is used by passive intermediary listing firms to portray the perception they are more than simply offering a FSBO facilitating, internet listing service. It is done to justify a fee higher than the service itself warrants and moreover to comfort the ego of those demoted back to being a basic listing neg. Used in the publicised sense “online estate agents” is nothing more than a marketing, ego and investment ‘thing’.
There are increasing numbers of agents who operate away from the High Street whether from a home, secondary or tertiary trading premises, rural workspace or business park, they are offering a full service agency- they are estate agents who stick to their patch or their niche. None of them need to say they are online. They are agents in the full and correct definition of the word
The more those who have tried ‘online agency’ come out and declare it a waste of time and how they got it wrong. ‘Online agency’ will become a negative label and those operating in the space will end up marooned between passive intermediary listing firms who list on the internet for under £100 and actual estate agents [whether they have a traditional premises or not or whether they are corporate or independent who properly fulfil the obligations of a contracted agent]
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Here’s the thing that has irked me for decades regarding Our Industry.
We have never had a real voice/interaction with Our Consumer. The NAEA was a “Club” as I recall, with Members (I used to be one) turning up at a tired hotel somewhere and reminiscing about days gone by, what the current gossip was and 10 mins on Industry related matters.
Rightmove, Zoopla, Nationwide, Halifax, RICS etc etc etc…. all have a go in the “Publicity Spotlight” usually with a slant towards whatever personal publicity message they are trying to spin. Meanwhile, we The Estate Agents, Letting Agents etc at the “property coal face” dutifully go about Our Business and let the “property tail wag the property dog”.
I entirely get that we are all in competition however in my view that divisive competitive gene that we all have will slowly be the death of us. The perceived strongest may think they will be the last ones standing and suck-up the benefit of that position however in my humble opinion, I think not.
OTM had a chance to gather Our Industry together on their failed V1 and now with their V2 effort, yet it’s clear that they have only self-business interest at heart (and who can blame them?).
We are the donkeys being led along the beach folks and if we don’t focus on publicising Our Industry we will become extinct.
In reality The Onliners Only are not there to serve the public as a real Estate Agent/Letting Agent does however we are witnessing how easy it is to keep banging the same message out to the consumer until they eventually believe that Onliners are just the same as a real High Street Estate Agent.
All of you in business don’t let someone else run/promote your business (positively or negatively) yet we are leaving Rightmove, Zoopla, Nationwide, Halifax, RICS etc to promote Our Collective Business/Industry.
Next time you sit down at a meeting in your office and focus on your business and your competitors around you, wonder if you are really looking at the biggest picture of all.
We are sleepwalking folks, it is time to wake up.
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>The new report says that vendors using online agents do so for transparency about fees and the process; confidence that they will sell quickly; confidence that they will negotiate the best price; and their use of the portals and their online presence.
A number of consumers must be thinking “Why don’t traditional agents publish their fees? That must be because they are really high”
I suppose this lack of transparency must be a profitable policy but with reports that 25% of Agents can’t afford Rightmove fees you’d think at least these Agents would be transparent. Compete with their better performing High Street rivals by advertising a low commission rate and a high standard of service.
It’s something I can’t get my head around so if somebody can explain it would be appreciated.
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Again you have made public your own contradiction, you have made something up (inside your head) and then can’t even understand it yourself.
We can’t explain things you’re imagining.
95% of vendors don’t have any trouble understanding no sale no fee. The Rightmove subscription thing has nothing to do with transparency.
Organise your thoughts and come back when you have
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Transparency means fees being easily available to see on a company’s website. It also means that when a potential seller calls the office and asks what your fees are you actually tell them. Yesterday I called eight offices in the area I work in. One agent gave his fees. The others you’d think I’d asked for their bank card details and security codes. They couldn’t have been more evasive if they’d tried.
There is no transparency in the high street.
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SLF
Estate agency amongst other things means giving specific and detailed property advice on property and areas that you cover. I called a random selection of online agents in months gone by and not one could tell me specific property or market intel on areas that they covered because of the size of the areas they cover. They were not nor can they be deemed estate agents in those areas at all.
There is no “estate agency” in any sense of the word from online agents in the majority of areas they cover.
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SLF, regarding disclosure of fees, we and I’m sure a great may other quality, full-service agents charge more than on-line only or cheap, low service agents because of what we ACTUALLY do. In order to be able to explain what the client is going to get for their money, we have to have a proper conversation. In addition to that, the actual property has to be assesssed to determine any issues that can either make it easier or harder to sell, only then can the right fee be decided. Too many know the price of everything and the value of nothing!
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If a Vendor thinks ‘Full Service’ is expensive, wait until he tries no service at all!!!
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Commission rates have always been a way of controlling the business. The flexibility to weed out vendors with unrealistic expectations by quoting card rate is not a lack of transparency it is one of the subtleties of running a profitable business.
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Is your definition of a transparent agent one with a legion of reviews saying “the agent didn’t explain to us that we would have to pay their fee regardless of a sale / for viewings / for getting out of using trash conveyancers and we didn’t go through the pages of fineprint and now we’re distraught”?
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What happened to Cybermuck?
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You’ll find him on LSE or some other forum desperately trying to prevent his favourite company’s share price falling any further – a bit like (C)nut the Great and that pesky tide!
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Not because they’re high but because it changes depending on what fee they think they can get away with when sitting in a vendor living room if they published them they would have some delighted clients who pushed and negotiated for their fee and some who didn’t and subsidised the other.
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Why don’t builders advertise their fees? Why don’t solicitors advertise many of their fees?
Why PROPER estate agents don’t publish their fees is because they must enquire at the outset exactly what is required and how much work will be involved. A PROPER estate agent cannot charge a bog standard fee – they leave that to the cheapskate cowboys.
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Same old argument still rolled out.
Still don’t buy it.
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Absolutely true. How much time and money must I invest in this to see a return? What is the client’s motivation? What demand is there for the property specifically? What are the wider market conditions? If you don’t adapt your fee accordingly you’re going to have a serious problem playing the volume game given the direction of travel on that front nationally.
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What a complete load of nonsense.
I worked on the high street for 20+ years for three of the big corporates. We all know how it works. I’ve actually been on training courses aimed at fee enquirey avoidance. It’s got nothing to do with what work is involved….it’s got to do with what you can get away with and you all know it.
Now I work for a non high street agent it’s a pleasure actually being able to explain my fee structure to a potential seller from the off and not bumble my way through some pre-prepared patter to aviod talking about fees until my foot’s in the door.
You’re all delusional and in denial.
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Sounds like you’re a mixed up ex-corporate who was in denial for 20+ years whilst you bumbled your way through pre-prepared patter to avoid talking about fees.
What a pity you didn’t see the light earlier.
Are you now one of those who takes their up front fees and runs?
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“confidence that they will sell quickly; confidence that they will negotiate the best price”
I’m sorry, what??? Complete tosh, this shows how inaccurate these sample surveys are to those who actually work on the coal face.
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Still trying to make it past the first three sentences.
More vendors are using an online agent – and the majority are reporting that they are doing so successfully. According to the new State of the Property Nation report from Zoopla, 24% of 399 sellers sampled used an online agent within the last year, double the number of three to five years ago. Making up the 24% were 19% who sold and 5% who did not.
If we read this type of statistic in another other industry it wouldn’t make it to print. e.g.
More people are using gym memberships – and the majority are reporting that they are doing so successfully. According to the new State of the Protein Nation gym report from XYZ Gym, 24% of 399 gym goers sampled used an online fitness program within the last year, double the number of three to five years ago. Making up the 24% were 19% who said it helped their physique and 5% who said it did not.
Fake headline grabbing tosh. This is more accurate;
Just 19% of 399 Vendors sampled used an online agent to achieve a sale for less than its true market value and 5% of those 399 vendors sampled, paid an online agent to not sell their property at all.
Zoopla has all your data and the products an estate agent needs to function, portal, CRM software and a host of property & finance partnerships that agents use. All they need now is a bunch of estate agents who fancy working directly for them to cross the line. Its not too late, but it gets closer every day.
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Agency is much more complicated than a portal listing; which to be fair is the easy bit.
The emotions that run through a chain at the point of organising moving dates for example, often become deal breakers and at these times agents and solicitors really earn their money.
Keeping things on track is what we do best, when all around are losing their heads.
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I have said it before and will say it again, Why would you use a high street agent when you can use an online PB etc. You get the price from all of the agents and compare it to right move. Price sorted now use an online agent. If i sell at 400K at 1.5% thats ^k as opposed to 1k. I use money facts to source my mortgage saving arrangement of £599.
I use a local solicitor.
IIF I don’t sell then any agent will drop his trousers in a heartbeat to discount the 1k i have paid up front to PB.
That is why i am seeing more PB boards around.
Did someone say service….I can phone my solicitor for updates on progress and my mortgage is down to me. No intermediaries to ******** me.
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Hodge Why would you use a high street agent when you can use an online PB etc.
Perhaps a good reason would be that if you engage a good local independent who knows what he or she is doing and accurately markets your house with the best presentation possible….more people will look at it on the portals and more interest will be generated, giving you more viewings (and much more likely better offers).
Add to this the viewings generated by the independent from their own databases, knowledge and local contacts, and you will get a better end result with a much higher level of follow up service, because the independent doesn’t get paid until the sale completes.
All this can often be obtained for a fee of less than £500 more than that charged by Call Centre Listers (bty the time all the extras have been added in), and if you don’t sell you pay nothing….so far less risk of losing money. I would also suggest that more interest means more viewings, which means more offers and better offers. £500 difference in a fee pales into insignificance if you obtain £5,000 more on your sale price.
BSOS23PC
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Is that the same agent who says to the viewer. “the vendor is open to offers”
The same agent who has been in the business for 3months because the company has a 50% turnover.
The one who has local contacts like builders who want everything knockdown price.
The same agent who boasts about trips to france for staff or breakfast meetings for winners!!!
The same agent who has a limited panel of lenders and then charge a fee for the privilege .
Nope, its the buyer who buys not the agent, if i put it into the biggest domain ie rightmove i should be safe?
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You’re growing on me Hodge
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Hodge
I can’t answer for what other agents that you have come accross have done, I know only what I and many independents like me do. It’s up to you to find the best independent agent in your area…the one that cares about and takes pride in what they do.
We always use the same gas man, because he does a great job at a reasonable price and we trust him.
So what do you do for a living Hodge?
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ARC, you do talk through a hole in your ARC
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hodge meet ARC, you both have something in common, talking through your ARCS!
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Why hasn’t anyone challenged this? If you were waiting for me you shouldn’t wait
This is King’s new clothes, it is garbage yet no-one is saying that or questioning it’s validity. It is a story with numbers in and the dreaded % sign so every one keeps quiet for fear of appearing a fool.
FSBO, passive intermediary listing agency have not doubled from 5.5% since 2013. 5.5% is the what the sector were claiming in 2013 (see the stories on EAT)
Someone from Zoopla has put together a report, given it a big title and circulated it to the press who openly admit to “not doing numbers”
Quite how stuff like this passes from something someone has prepared into accepted fact without any challenge is beyond me.
What this report says, what it claims is undermined by logic and industry numbers. The number of properties on the market by agent, by brand by group are easily counted on a daily basis so there is simply no need for such a small sample. There is no need to ask anyone anything, the numbers say all that need saying. #Local for sale boards, #local sold boards- that is the state of the nation.
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Question: the sample who were questioned, were they all sellers who had completed sales or a random sample of sellers who had not necessarily moved? Am I being stupid here?
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The one figure that I want to see is how much money was wasted instructing an online agent that didn’t sell the property. How many people are paying for a service they didn’t get? The Zoopla stats indicate only a 5% differential to the non-mathematical eye. But this is completely incorrect. It could be anything. 20% or 80%. This report is misleading by its maths and lack of disclosure.
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Whether we like it or not our business is becoming a commodity. Inexorably service will continue to be of lower importance than fee. We’re on a journey and only halfway to the destination. The online only agents with their repetitive brainwashing are speeding up that process. Is it too late to do a u turn? I think so. Some will keep the fight going longer than others, but the inevitable will happen.
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Once agents realise the full value of their connections and opportunities and how to access those opportunities for themselves the change of mind is instant and decisive.
The data harvesting that makes it possible for others to profit & prosper from agents data switches off as quickly as a summer storm ruins a harvest barley
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