Here’s a curiosity on which your views would be welcome.
Put in a search on Yell and you will find no fewer than 17,471 estate agents listed for the UK, and 8,570 letting agents. For England, there are 15,445 estate agents and 7, 578 letting agents. For London, the figures are 2,860 estate agents and 1,157 letting agents.
It sounded a lot to me, so I tried a search on my home town of Basingstoke: up come 38 estate agents and 21 letting agents, which sounds more than any smallish town should reasonably support even in a boom.
So, what’s going on? Here we are in the worst property market recession since the ice age and yet estate agents appear to be proliferating. Yet if these numbers are correct – and there’s no reason to dispute them, since it’s hard to see why anyone should bother to list themselves as something they’re not – then numbers have indeed been steadily increasing.
Whilst a lack of proper centralised registration of estate agents (please, don’t get us started) means that no one has ever been sure as to exact numbers, most commentators settled for 16,000 offices at the peak of the boom.
Mike Osborn, of Brightmove, believes there’s a simple answer: ‘virtual’ agents are springing up all over the country, their numbers swollen by Domestic Energy Assessors, who having now learnt how to do floorplans as well as EPCs, are flogging the odd house on the side, from their spare bedrooms.
What do you reckon?
Estate agents – do the numbers add up?
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Comments
The boom in 'non-high st agents' is inevitable when you consider the role that the internet now plays in our daily lives. It will be interesting to see where the next few years takes the industry. A lot of the internet agents will die as quickly as they surface 'Brightmove' included, however there will be a few that make the grade. One thing is for sure, internet estate agency is a growing industry at the expense of 'Office based', unless we ban the internet, its difficult to see how this trend can be reversed.
I dont think anyone knows how many agents there are. Yell.com data is a load of rubbish, they will take on anyone who is willing to pay. Sold Magazine still claim to circulate to 18K Estate agents.... what a load of rubbish. Nobody knows how many of us there are.
We have agents listed that closed years ago and other agents that are not in town!
You don't need to a genius to work it out. Eg in my town there are 7 agents (2 have closed) but Yell lists 29 agents. Their offices though are about 30 miles away, but they obviously pay Yell to advertise in adjoining areas.
In the large suburb town of Bromley I'm aware of a few individuals who have left under performing or agencies that have closed to start on their own. Usually with silent partners and an emphasis on lettings. Trouble is these ex-negs now masquerading as Directors absolutely have no technical knowledge and no air of responsibility from what I have seen. They know how to stick a board up though and to emply Rightmove! Simple eh? I thought we was an industry looking to improve our image, but if people are continually allowed to open and trade with limited technical knowledge what is the point of true professionals attending courses, reading books and continuing professional development? This market was at one point sorting the men from the boys, but on another level it's bringing some real have a go heroes. Only time will tell I suppose.
Just goes to show that the army of spotty wannabees and weakest link ex-negs are spending endless hours in the box room that is their bedroom at the family home, twiddling their knobs and dreaming of one day owning their own shop. Until, then, sign up for Yell and pretend. When you get bored with it, theirs always World of Warcraft to break up the day.
Tony, Hope all is well ?
Yell / Yellow Pages is a waste of money. We had a dedicated 08# to monitor call volume sourced from their ads & it produced a pathetic response rate. Why did YP withdraw this free 08# service two years ago? Everyone was getting the same poor results & reducing / eliminating their spend...
Same in my area.Seems that some agents have bought a wider area from yell than they would usually cover.This is coupled with the mix of the usual virtual agents.Would be interested to know if any agent out there has paid a much higher Yell bill to expand "virtually" accross other areas and wether that has paid any dividends.I relented on excessive Yell advertising but have got an open mind on it.
Interesting Rosalind. You really must talk to me about this new website, it addresses some of your observations.
cheers
Tony
The Yell listings for my area showed 29 agents. The first 13, including ALL the sponsored ones (ie those that pay extra to be put first) are located outside the area, and most are not even proper agents.
I work from a small town and recently had a visit from our local YELL rep. When I looked at thier site I was not surprised to see that we had half of the local city agents paying to be listed for every local town within a 15 mile radius. Some of these have actually got a board or two in the town but you certainly would not accredit them with any local market knowledge or presence.
I have done a similar search and despite there being 4 agents in my town, it brings up many more - the nationwide quicksale types and other agents in surrounding towns, who would sell property in this town. So that explains that.
However, I think it unlikely that the DEAs Mike Osborn refers to will get much business. Unless of course they are putting boards up and listing these odd properties on a nationwide property portal. But if not, what exactly is he claiming they are doing? Or perhaps he doesn't really know and is just trying to get his name about. Again.
Blimey, is this all you've got to talk about. Its pretty obvious that maybe agents that have closed down will still have a listing on the net or one agent will appear to have a net of several miles and therefore appear in searches outside their actual office location.
I thought Brightmove had finally gone away? As well as too many bricks and mortar agencies there are also too many lame online ones - BM being a classic example!