Estate agents struggling harder to sell homes second time around
TwentyEA data reveals previously marketed properties carry a much smaller chance of converting into a sale and are less likely to generate revenue for agents.
Estate agents are more than twice as likely to secure a sale on an ‘off-market’ or not previously marketed instruction than homes switched to them as the second agent, latest data reveals.
And figures from TwentyEA, part of the TwentyCi group, show this figure has been rapidly increasing since the start of the year.
OFF-MARKET homes
In January 2023, an agent was 22% more likely to agree a sale on an off-market instruction but in August 2023 the same figure had risen to 54%.
TwentyEA defines an off-market instruction as a property which has not been on the market in the last three months.
Data also shows that the volume of properties being switched to a second agent have dramatically risen by almost 80% compared with the beginning of last year.
In January 2022, only 4.4% of all new instructions were switched to a second agent but by August 2023, this figure had risen to 7.8% – a rise of nearly 80%.
MORE CHALLENGING
Katy Billany, Executive Director of TwentyEA, says: “It stands to reason that we’d expect the percentage of instructions switched to a second estate agent to increase within a more challenging sales market.
“However, the data shows these previously marketed properties carry a much smaller chance of converting into a sale agreed and are therefore less likely to generate revenue.
And she adds: “Agents who invest in off-market targeting will be maximising their chances of securing instructions which are 54% more likely to generate revenue than properties which have been switched to them as the second agent.”
“Our data also found that off-market instructions sell 10% faster (reach a sale agreed) than switched instructions, again highlighting the value of winning these properties.”
