Online and hybrid estate agents’ market share is accelerating at the expense of their traditional counterparts despite the market slowdown, it has been claimed.
House Network, which was the UK’s first online agency when it was founded in 2003, says its sector of the industry is winning through by demonstrating strong consumer engagement and because price-sensitive sellers are increasingly looking to save money.
The claims have been made by its founder and CEO Mark Readings. His company says the number of people visiting its website has increased six-fold last month and that valuation requests jumped by over 1,600%.
Online estate agents
House Network has not published the exact figures to back these claims up, but in a statement released today it suggests that the market growth is coming from both younger, tech-savvy vendors and those selling more expensive homes.
“Sellers are realising that they now have alternatives with fixed fee hybrid and online estate agents,” says Mark Readings.
“They no longer want to be punished for having a more expensive property and are looking for the most efficient and cost-effective way to sell their asset. Local and online can co-exist but changes to both models are required.”
“Our customers want to be able to see the development of their transaction 24 hours a day, they don’t want to wait for their agent to call them back four days later, this is their biggest asset and in a particularly difficult market they need to know that they are not eating into their profits with any wanted fees.”
Interesting piece.