The Mirror is claiming that 1,228 estate agency branches have closed in the last year.
The paper cites no source for its claims, but says that firms are “reeling from a triple whammy of a new wave of online agents, the struggling housing market and rising costs”.
It says that although 780 branches opened, there was a 3.8% fall last year – greater than the 2.5% drop in 2017.
The Mirror says that 4,870 estate agent branches have shut since 2015, and that the closures are part of Britain’s “high street crisis”.
The paper also suggests that firms are under pressure with online rivals such as Purplebricks “charging much lower fees”.
Comments (15)
The sooner online agents are regulated the better. Anyone can be an estate agent, no qualifications and selling your biggest assets!
Good on the experienced qualified agents, they are out there
Forget their spurious numbers and the hyperbole that onliners have been anything more than a collective gnat bite, the Mirror is right in terms of the fundamentals. However, Estate Agency is ever thus – it’s a concertina industry, when times are good they pop up everywhere, when times are bad, they disappear to sell windows/solar panels for a while. This part of the world is a prime example – mid size provincial English city – in 2011 there were c.45 agents listing on Rightmove, by 2017 this had gone up to c.90 and today, the number is down to c.55.
Down from 90 in 2017 to 55 tends to support the story from the Mirror.
Whilst online agents may not have taken a huge market share, are their lower commissions not driving down traditional agents’ commissions? This, along with the other two factors mentioned in the triple whammy, causing the decline in numbers?
CD46 – the answer to your two questions is NO in both cases
Lucky you’re not paying for all that unused White Space in your post cyberduck…..
The Newspapers failed miserably to convert their printed media clients to digital ……a huge missed opportunity, recognised long after their clients had moved their spend to other avenues.
At least the customers who actually footed the final newspaper bill benefitted from those savings.
What we have now is overpriced portal advertising which is driving us to rethink/reallocate our spend locally …..and that generates local dividends.
In real terms the homeseller benefits from less “overpriced 3rd party overheads” and it lets Local/High Street Estate Agents get on with earning their fee for their hard work, rather than lining the 3rd party supplier pockets!
Newspapers demise is actually good news, the big portals just need to implode as well …..then the consumer will benefit from further savings.
The Online Only Mime Artists will suffocate if the big portals shrivel & die or as I am witnessing, buyers/agents move back to the sound methods of matching buyer to seller.
Real Estate Agents are not broadly recognised for the excellent work they do ……however, many of the actual clients involved see/appreciate the work that Real Estate Agents do ……and ultimately that is what matters.
>What we have now is overpriced portal advertising which is driving us to rethink/reallocate our spend locally …..and that generates local dividends.
GPL,
If all agents are spending more locally and more on the portals then surely this increases your costs? Or are you suggesting Agents are replacing the cost of portals with local advertising?
I’d be interested to see some sample cases of Estate Agents that have dropped RM and managed to pass their savings on to customers. Perhaps have a look at their accounts submitted to Companies House. It’s not something that I’ve seen reported here on PIE and PIE aren’t shy when it comes to writing about RM. In fact I think if an Agent made a success of dropping RM it would be the most talked about article PIE had ever written.
Talk of dropping RM is a regular topic on here.
I can recall strike action against RM in December being called. One of the Agents said they were going to consult with their clients and I noted that they continued to advertise with RM so presumably their clients insisted they remain on RM. Surely this must be what customers expect? Perhaps it’s different in your neck of the woods?
See https://www.propertyindustryeye.com/opinion-time-for-industry-to-show-its-teeth-over-rightmove-fee-hikes-and-heres-how/ This is a thread that was viewed 4675 times and had 114 comments.
From following the Agent comments on here about Rightmove they appear to me to be reticent to drop them. I would think this is sensible as their competition would make a big deal about it locally.
……just on Newspaper cost savings cyberduck …..circa £250,000 spend over circa 10 years, now zero, that’s a substantial saving for my clients as that was a 3rd party cost which they paid the Newspapers for. Possibly different scenario in England in past times.
Fact is, my client’s don’t have to pay for Newspaper Advertising, and as I intensively test Rightmove’s effectiveness it’s now clear that their tipping point has been reached as they no longer drive the same level of enquiries or leads.
As we know many agents remain with Rightmove only because of the fear of how their competitors may play that lack of Rightmove against them. In my case I have changed/reverted to traditional marketing and that is delivering measurable/better results than the portals.
Rightmove may very well know the “writing is on the wall” as they increase/squeeze the “Agents Lemon” harder as they know they are on their final cash-in hurrah.
As we re-educate the homeseller/buyer how/where to look for property and revert back to traditional methods we repeatedly/effectively demonstrate the diminishing return that the leading portals deliver for agents.
Battle hardened agents are looking inwards to see how they can develop/adapt their business with much less reliance on portals.
Portals & Virtual Mime Artists such as Purplebricks and others may have thought they were cruising forwards, in reality they underestimate the ability of agents to develop/adapt within their local markets.
I know you are a mere bystander to Our Industry cyber duck, g*d only knows why ……..however, “Real Estate Agents” don’t just sit gazing up their portals!
You haven’t emailed me your details or wisdom yet ……you know who/where I am.
‘New wave of online agents’? Good old Mirror, leading the way with the latest news.
The fact that the online only sector has already shot its bolt with high profile names consigned to the history books and the only dominant player haemorrhaging money shows why newspapers are only good for two things, sport and a fish and chip supper.
don’t forget the concert ads on the weekend.
Does the Mirror still advertise events for thieving capitalist concert organisers and greedy tax exile superstars who exploit the working classes with exorbitant ticket prices?
Can see the line up, Billy Bragg, UB40 and any act with ‘Brothers’ in their name with of course Jezza making an appearance.
Newsprint may be dying but online newspapers are thriving in many cases. Just look at the traffic for the Mail or Guardian (who have made a huge success of paid reader subscriptions) For them it really is all going online, innit.
However, the positive News for Newspapers? …. they are great for lighting my log fires at night!
Local/High Street Estate Agents continue to provide a service
……and Newspapers? ……they make up news when they can’t find any.
The Mirror, The Newspaper Industry …..ravaged by plunging readership figures, plummeting circulation, desperately trying to regain lost revenue by focusing on digital media….
Sorry, what’s the bigger story here?
The Newspaper Industry is dying! Full stop!
Top quality journalism there Mirror, well done.
My sources tell that newspaper publishers are closing at a rate of 1,453 per year, just don’t ask me who they are or who my source is.