As I write this I am celebrating the tenth birthday of Rayner Personnel, the property recruitment firm that I founded and am proud to run to this day.

I could bang on about the 2,000-plus client businesses that we have helped in that time. But to do so would be gratuitous and would surely not get past the editor of this fine publication due to being overtly promotional on my part. So no, I will not mention this achievement nor the 5265 candidates that we have placed in jobs across the property sector in that decade 😉  

However, I will squeeze in my sincere thanks to our brilliant team of now 34 individuals that have made and continue to make our business what it is. Thank you. 

Rather than looking back as is traditional, I’d like to take the opportunity, now that the hangover has subsided from our celebrations on the Thames last week, to talk about the things that I believe are going to be of the utmost importance to the property industry in the coming decade. Aspects that have perhaps not been the focus to date, were hardly mentioned ten years ago but that signify how the property industry is now changing. 

Appropriately, I will highlight ten things:

People

Property is a people business, that’s not new. But I have seen a shift in employer thinking of late that more acknowledges individuals and indeed individual salary packages as opposed to a one size fits all corporate approach to attracting and indeed retaining staff. Bespoke deals are all the rage now and tailored to specific experience and, in particular, the relationships that candidates can bring with them. This considered approach to hiring is set to become much more standard in the future. Indeed, employers realise that to hire the best and to keep them, not only do they have to pay better but they have to understand ROI – the return on investment per team member. What does it really matter if you’re paying ‘over the going rate’ if your neg, lister or branch manager brings in twice what the average person does?     

Technology

Proptech is yet to really spread its wings in our industry as many predicted it might. There are lots of solutions trying to find a problem still and this means that the agency sector is often quite sceptical about adopting the latest platform or app. But that will change as technology vendors tweak and pivot their products and continue to better understand the agent animal – a person that is generally financially cautious and time poor and that seeks zero friction in the integration of new tech. Above all, the Proptech winners will be those that appeal to what I consider to be the Holy Grail of understanding, that technology works in conjunction with great people rather than instead of them.  

Consolidation

Lots of new estate agencies have sprung up since 2012. There are 19,446 branches in 2022 compared to 15,909 then (Source: IBIS World) . But the number of premises is now reducing, down from 21,232 in 2019. Expect to see a continuing flurry of acquisitions as corporates and entrepreneurial independents snap up smaller firms in a quest to consolidate costs through economies of scale and to add value to their own exit strategies.   

Self-employed

When I founded Rayner Personnel in 2012 there was no such thing as a self-employed agent in the UK. Talk of this being the norm in the US was and sometimes still is met with mockery. Yet by my count there are already over 1000 self-employed agents in Britain and, whilst this is a small percentage of the 60,000 or so total, it is my opinion that it’s the start of a sub-sector that is only going to grow and, I believe that one, maybe two players are going to drive the supported self-employed agency model to something significant in size. Like Purplebricks did in the online space.  

Personal brand

Perhaps linked to the self-employed sector comments above, it’s undeniable that the question of personal brand is now ‘a thing’. Many believe that the corporate brand above the door is now less important than the profile of the individual agent. 

My belief is that reputation, existing client relationships, local presence and social media kudos are key aspects to the success of an individual estate agent and should be nurtured and promoted heavily by those that understand this. It’s their true, tradable value and will be one of the most prominent and important things in UK estate agency in the coming years.

Regulation

It’s coming. Yes, it’s been threatened for years but notwithstanding other political distractions right now, you can expect to see estate agency licensing introduced soon (ish). Can anyone honestly make an argument that an unregulated ‘wild-west’ approach is ok?

Working From Home

Wow, this is a dynamic that if raised as a possibility even three years ago let alone ten would have been laughed at by anyone involved in property. ‘It simply won’t work in estate agency’ they said. Now, many agents ‘WFH’ and it seems to work just fine. Why shouldn’t it? In particular, I’m seeing that firms who encourage such are also attracting candidates that otherwise would never consider estate agency as a career and so the pool of potential job seekers just got bigger (and better). It’s here to stay.

Fees will increase

Yep. Licensing, greater social media and review rating scrutiny, bigger fee splits (see the self-employed comments above) and consolidation will lead to better service levels and thus higher fees – higher because better service and outcomes means higher fees can be better justified. The only thing preventing an increase in revenue per client? … is the industry itself!

Diversity and Inclusion

This is of course firmly on the radar of all companies and organisations. Now that the light is increasingly shining on this subject and there’s more statistical data to analyse, expect to see a better balance of ethnicity and gender across the property sector and yes, that means lots more women in c-suite positions at last – and not before time. 

Mental health

Sshhhh. We don’t talk about mental health, do we? It certainly isn’t a subject that was openly encouraged a decade ago, in fact it was lampooned as a weakness. 

But at one time or other most of us will struggle with our mental health and it’s thankfully now accepted as a challenge that should be openly discussed and supported.

If the market weakens and agencies and agents start to struggle financially, it’s vital that our sector understands and supports the issue of mental health from the top to the bottom of the trade.

So that’s my ten. Ten issues that were rarely if ever on the sector’s radar back in 2012 but ten years later are very much topical. 

My prediction is that many if not all of these will be dominant issues as the industry adapts and changes. But if you disagree with any of them, I’d love to hear your view and why.   

Josh Rayner is CEO of Rayner Personnel. 

Property recruitment firm hits 10 year milestone