Online estate agents take 10% of market for first time within sub-£200k sector
Research by TwentyCI suggests online estate agents are gaining traction among budget home movers and particularly in the NW, West Midlands and Yorkshire.
Online estate agents have taken 10% of the UK housing market at the lower end of the market for the first time, latest research by TwentyCI reveals.
Its Property & Homebuyer report for the final three months of 2019 shows that online agents now have a market share of 10% for properties under £200,000 and an overall market share of 7.9%, a percentage which has held steady during the whole of last year.
Also, TwentyCI says online estate agents hold in excess of 10% of the market in several key regions including in the North West, West Midlands as well as Yorkshire and the Humber.
“This is a significant win for online agents, yet again demonstrating their appeal to the lower-value end of the housing market, however for Purplebricks to achieve their stated goal of 10% market share, a significant penetration into other populace regions of the UK and for properties greater than £200k is essential,” says Colin Bradshaw (left), Chief Customer Officer at TwentyCI.
“Polarisation of their proposition will inhibit the strategic objective.”
His company’s research also reveals that the ‘Boris bounce’ predicted by many agents and economists following the General Election win for the Conservative Party has yet to appear in the form of an increase in new instructions or average asking prices.
“Consumers have still been behaving hesitantly when it comes to both buying and selling their homes, however with Brexit now planned for later this month, we could see a welcome boost to the slow-moving property market of 2019, at least in the short term as people look to get on with the job of moving house,” says Bradshaw.
