Research by GetAgent Exchange reveals that a third of homebuyers are moving across local authority lines, highlighting the opportunity for agents to capitalise on out-of-area leads. The survey, commissioned by GetAgent Exchange, found that 76% of homebuyers said their buying agent didn’t have a presence in the area where they were selling.
The survey, which polled homebuyers who had purchased a property in the past 12 months, showed that 51% moved within their existing local authority, while 49% looked further afield. Of those, 16% purchased within the same county, 11% moved within the same region but outside their county, and 21% relocated to a new region or home nation of the UK.
Interestingly, 64% of these buyers also had a property to sell. However, with many moving to new areas, only a small proportion had the chance to use the same agent for both their sale and purchase.
The survey found that 76% of buyers’ agents didn’t have a presence in the area where they were selling their current property. This disconnect is particularly significant given the distances some buyers are moving.
Further analysis of CDRC data by GetAgent Exchange showed that homebuyers moving to Cornwall travel the furthest, averaging 159 miles from their original property. Additionally, buyers relocating to 23 other UK local authorities move between 70 and 118 miles from their previous home.
“Our research has found that almost half of buyers are crossing local authority lines, and many are relocating to entirely new regions," explained co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short.
"It’s no surprise that when they find their next home, their buying agent is unlikely to have a presence in their current area and can’t assist them with selling their existing property."
Short concluded, “This distance is creating a natural disconnect between buying and selling agents, complicating the process for movers and leaving vendor leads unclaimed. That’s why we created GetAgent Exchange, providing agents with a smarter way to capitalise on out-of-area leads through our referral network, unlocking new income while offering additional support to movers, without requiring any extra effort from the referring agent.”
