Upfront information reduces fall-throughs by 13%

A property data firm claims to have evidence showing agents who fail to provide upfront information are more likely to suffer fall-throughs.

Sprift analysed 1.2m listings between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022 to understand the difference in fall-through rates between agents who use its platform to provide upfront information compared with those who don’t.

It claims that agents not using Sprift to provide upfront information had an average fall-through rate of 29.3% compared with 25.4% among its own users – a 13.31% reduction.

While there could be plenty of causes for a deal to collapse and it is unclear whether agents not using Sprift are still providing upfront information, the firm suggests this shows the importance of upfront searches and the vendor providing key materials.

Matt Gilpin, chief executive of Sprift, said: “Data can’t and won’t ever be able to mitigate every situation in which either a vendor or a buyer decides to withdraw from the transaction prior to exchange, however what we can point to is a direct correlation between agents providing significant information to a buyer at that critical point of first engagement, such as our Key Facts for Buyers reports, and a reduction in average fall through rates.”

While there is still a significant debate in the property sector around what ‘upfront information’ actually means, Gilpin said, he suggested the Trading Standards definitions that Sprift uses ppear to have a positive effect on agents’ pipelines and therefore, also protects their income.

He added: “The debate still rages on as to whether or not legislation needs to change in order to mandate upfront searches or vendor-provided information by way of a completed BASPI or TA6 and TA10.

“However, our data study unequivocally identifies that pulling together key elements, such as the boundary plan, flood risk or whether the property is in a conversation area, flagging if the property is listed and showcasing all of that information in a report that’s ‘user friendly’ for a consumer to understand, increases the agent’s success rate in terms of completed transactions.”