Market share for hybrid and online estate agencies has fallen 21% in the last 12 months, new research shows.

They now have only 6.1% of all new instructions according to data agency TwentyEA.

The share of the overall market peaked for hybrid/online agencies during the first Covid lockdown in May 2020 at nearly 10%, but is now at its lowest in four years.

By region, online agencies perform best in the North, with 11.3% market share in Yorkshire and The Humber and 10.2% in the North West. In the South East and the East of England the figures show only 4.7% and 4.3%.

Hybrids are most commonly used for lower value properties, with 9.2% on instructions under £200K and only 1.1% for £1 million-plus.

Subdued

Stuart Ducker, strategic solutions director of TwentyEA, says: “The subdued performance of these hybrid/online agents in the last two years, in a seller’s market where demand has outstripped supply, seems counter-intuitive.

“The failure to be adopted by sellers of higher-value properties will inhibit online/hybrid agents in establishing a significant market share in London and the South East, where the property value and density of housing are greatest.”

“Vendors consistently opted to stick with traditional agents.”

Ducker adds: “Where the fixed-fee lower-cost model arguably ought to have prevailed, our analysis shows the opposite, as vendors consistently opted to stick with traditional agents.

“This is most pronounced in the higher value brackets, where online agents appear to have reached a ceiling.”

Read more about hybrid estate agencies.