Only a small proportion of the property industry makes use of referral platforms to help them monetise out-of-area leads. says GetAgent’s boss, Colby Short (pictured), even though a minority have offices outisde of their local town or city.

A survey of UK estate agents commissioned by GetAgent Exchange, a new platform that his company has launched recently, found that 74% have more than one branch within their own patch but only 34% did within their home county and just 30% had one across their wider region.

Also, only 14% – which tend to be the big property industry corporates – say that they have a branch in UK regions outside the one in which they are mainly actuve.

But just a quarter say that they utilise a referral platform of any kind to help share and monetise the leads that they obtain via buyers or sellers who are looking to either buy or sell a property in an area in which they have no presence.

Not confident

When asked what they see as the biggest obstacle to utilising referral platforms, estate agencies say the key issue is that they are not confident that they’ll get paid for the leads they generate.

Time is another obstacle, with many agencies claiming that they don’t have the time or resources to engage with potential leads and relevant agents.

The value of these referrals ranked as the next biggest concern, with agencies not considering the returns offered worthwhile, even though they receive plenty of potential leads.

Short says: “Out-of-area leads are a common byproduct of how people move, whether it’s buyers relocating for work or sellers moving closer to family. Yet most agents don’t have a clear process for what to do with those leads when they fall outside their patch.

With the right systems and safeguards in place, these referrals can represent a real commercial opportunity.”

“What stood out from our research is that volume isn’t the issue. Agents are getting these enquiries, but the barriers are trust and time. Many worry they won’t be paid fairly for the introduction, or that the admin involved will outweigh the benefit.

“That’s why only a minority are using referral platforms, whether that’s legacy networks like the Guild of Property Professionals or Relocation Agent Network, or more innovative models like GetAgent Exchange.

“But with the right systems and safeguards in place, these referrals can represent a real commercial opportunity.”