Conveyancing services provider myhomemove says the large majority of estate agents - even those operating from traditional high street branches - believe the future for the industry lies online.
In a survey of the industry, myhomemove found 83 per cent of agents felt more people were turning to online agencies to find their next home than was the case five years ago.
Some 65 per cent of agents say there will be an increase in agents operating online only and without high street branches in the future.
Only 31 per cent of the agents surveyed say there is still a need for high street branches.
myhomemove also asked its clients to explain how the internet has influenced the way they buy property, resulting in further support for online services.
Some 52 per cent of buyers, when looking online at agents' websites or at portals, had ruled out properties without considering viewing them, solely on the basis of their online appearance.
And 64 per cent of the firm's clients say traditional property marketing tools such as local newspaper supplements are less relevant now than at any time in the past.
Doug Crawford, CEO of myhomemove, says these results show that the majority of consumers favour online services ... while estate agents themselves are wavering towards a future that involves utilising technology.
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Comments
Could this be because they provide conveyancing for: HouseNetWork, Purplebricks, HouseSimple, Tepilo, Hatched etc...
There will soon be several large TV advertising campaigns by some of the better financed online agents.
This will benefit all online agents as currently approximately 95% of home owners do not consider online estate agents an option.
However, the national advertising will also serve as an awareness campaign for the whole industry, eventually increasing the online estate agent market share which will equate to millions of pounds :)
As a letting agent working from home i find it pleasing to see that the online advertising works and not only that appears to be thriving and in some cases outdoing traditional branches, that being said there is still a huge majority of people not internet friendly and that need the face to face of a real person to relate to, with renting becoming the more favored option for many people the online market should do very well.
We recently a property with WeSold, whilst the online model is really good and it saved us a decent amount of money, the service was very poor and below standard from start to finish. So, a bad experience of an online agent. Sure there are other ones with better customer service though.
We are hosting a roundtable debate on the topic 'online vs traditional agents' this July. Join the debate on the ARLA group http://tinyurl.com/pnpfdsh
Personally I believe that online conveyancing needs to get its own house in order before commenting about how other industries should develop. The delays caused in property transactions due to the inadequacies of online conveyancing firms is frightening. In fact the only thing more frightening is the apparent lack of awareness the directors of these businesses have, for either their customers or the damage they are doing to the housing market in general.
"In a survey of the industry, myhomemove found 83 per cent of agents felt more people were turning to online agencies to find their next home than was the case five years ago."
Really online Portals yes.. but online agencies to find their next home... doubtful.
Didn't see them saying that to all the high street agents who have lined there pockets for many years certainly will not be receiving any further business from me
Where do they get their introduced business from Not online agents me thinks! A well know supplier like this should be thinking about how they support their customers today.
Exactly what I said at the MyHomeMove conference I spoke at a couple of weeks ago; https://www.youtube.com/embed/VHawuxt138E