Published on Sky News today is an article from Richard Suchet, Sky News reporter, about how the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has admitted that the days of the high street estate agent could be numbered due to the popularity of property websites.
Mr. Suchet reports that the days of the estate agents’ ‘big shop front’ may be nearing an end and that in the last two years, one in four estate agents in the UK have closed down.
Meanwhile, the online property market has been booming, with a 35% growth this year in the number of property searches on Google.
Property search engine Rightmove says that 90% of all homes on the market can be found on their site.
Philip Bullman of the NAEA told Sky News Online that the internet posed a threat to high street branches but insisted that there would always be a role for an agent.
“I do think there’s an opening for a virtual estate agent out there but you still need the local experience and the people on the ground,” he said.
“Most buyers don’t like to negotiate face-to-face with the seller over prices and they prefer to use a middle man.
“Home Information Packs (HIPS) can also be quite complicated and many people would want an agent to sort that for them.
“But yes, I think maybe the day of the big shop front is nearing an end.”
Sarah Beeny
TV presenter and property expert Sarah Beeny says that circumventing estate agents and selling your home online independently can be quite straightforward.
“It’s actually easier dealing with things yourself – we find our mortgage ourselves, we find our own holidays, we book our own flights,” she said.
“The internet has empowered the average person to deal with things and there’s no actual reason why they can’t deal with selling their house.”
Jonathan Daines, Co-founder of property website Lettingaproperty.com, believes there will always be a need for a “middle man”, not everyone would prefer handling the sale or let of their own properties.
However, the industry is moving forward rapidly and with over 75% – 80% of home hunters finding their properties online, the need for expensive high street offices is becoming a thing of the past. Websites like ours offers the best of both worlds – experienced letting agents backed by superior web technology and marketing presence. Landlords have the comfort of knowing there is someone to talk too should they need marketing advice and it does not cost them the earth to do so.
