"In a time when selling a property is particularly tough, it’s more important than ever for vendors to instruct the very best agent they can find, but more and more vendors are searching for a cheap agent"
- Colby Short - GetAgent
The latest research from GetAgent.co.uk has revealed that seller search interest for high street agents has dropped, while there has been a significant spike in searches for cheap fee agents.
GetAgent analysed data from Google Trends for several home seller and estate agency-related search terms to reveal how seller interest changed in the current market versus this time last year based on the change in the average search term popularity score.
Cheap fee searches up 53%
The research shows that there has been a notable year-on-year spike in search interest for the term ‘cheap estate agent’ within the estate agency category - up 53% between January 2023 and January 2024.
High street estate agency interest down -45%
At the same time, search interest for ‘high street estate agent’ is the only search term analysed by GetAgent to have seen a reduction, down -45% annually. Although the search terms ‘best estate agent’ (+27%) and ‘local estate agent’ (+12%) have increased.
It’s clear that while the house price crash that many predicted at the start of last year has failed to materialise, sellers are looking to cut the cost of selling their home in cooling market conditions, having potentially seen the value of their home fall in recent months. Many will also be facing higher mortgage costs, adding further motivation to save when selling.
As a result, they are looking to cheap fee agents to sell their homes, but what does it mean for the traditional estate agency sector?
The high street must stand firm on fees
While 2024 has started on the front foot, with mortgage approvals and house prices starting to rise, it may be tempting for agents to drop their fees to attract business and bolster their for-sale stock levels while market conditions remain somewhat subdued.
But as we well know, a race to the bottom doesn’t work, as documented by the sharp rise and even sharper fall of the low-cost, fixed-fee agency model.
At the same time, sellers are still searching for both the best-performing agents and those with local expertise, two traits that are also hard to come by with cheap fee agents.
While many sellers may opt for a cheap fee agent to start with, the likelihood is that they simply won’t receive the desired service, or results, in current market conditions.
Therefore, it’s not only vital that high street agents stand firm on their fees, but they also need to emphasise their superior property selling pedigree, both in terms of their average selling time and the percentage of asking price achieved.
Demonstrating that best is better than cheap in the long run when it comes to the percentage of the asking price achieved should also help to alleviate seller concerns around paying a higher fee, as they stand to make more on the sale of their home when they do complete.
Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented: “In a time when selling a property is particularly tough, it’s more important than ever for vendors to instruct the very best agent they can find, but more and more vendors are searching for a cheap agent.
"Whilst this approach is wrong it is understandable why many vendors are making this mistake. To the untrained eye estate agents are a commodity. They often look the same, say the same things and all bring a Rightmove report “proving” they are the best.
"Yet agents are not a commodity. Some are much better than others and a good one can get you a price for your home that will far outweigh the additional fee they charge you whilst also providing great support through an extremely stressful process. It is vital to our industry that we all continue to make this point and hopefully we will see “best estate agent” searches surge next year.”
