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Stock crisis: Prime London sales firms now using buying agent tactics

Desperate state of the market in PCL has driven Hamptons International and other estate agents in the capital to take a new approach to selling.

Sheila Manchester

buying agent

Hamptons International’s PCL team is celebrating the sale of an £18 million property – and reports that in the current market they are acting more like buying agents to offer best service to their customers.

Applicant numbers are at their highest since 2016, but, with increasingly low stock levels, agents acting at the upper end of the market are operating more like buying agents, liaising with fellow agencies and working off-market to get the deal done.

Richard Broer, Regional Director, Hamptons International (above) says, It’s no secret, homeowners are sitting on their hands as we navigate the current political upheaval.

“Stock levels are at their lowest – homeowners are reluctant to market their homes as they do not want to over expose them.

“But there are buyers – investors wanting to make the most of the pound, and domestic buyers looking to upsize, downsize or buy their first home.

“There is a real flurry of activity, but an absence of homes on the portals or even the usual stock of off-market properties.

Sensible offers

“So we must act as buying agents to find properties for our buyers who specify a particular square or a street means that we go above and beyond to see who’s interested in selling. During the past six weeks, we have accessed 15 new PCL homes, with owners responsive to sensible offers.

“We recently completed this £18m deal with Knight Frank on a Belgravia home. We were working with our applicant for 10 months, viewing homes in Chelsea and Knightsbridge, but as their requirements evolved, we expanded the area and their budget, and completed on a property in Belgravia with a 10 day exchange and 10 day completion.”

October 25, 2019

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