Latest data reveals heightened landlord activity during January

According to figures released by estate and lettings agent service provider, The ValPal Network, renewed confidence in the property market following the general election in December really started to take hold in January.

Related topics:  Landlords
Warren Lewis
17th February 2020
To Let 773

It says the ‘Boris bounce’ combined with the traditional New Year upsurge in activity combined to create a very fruitful January for estate and letting agents up and down the country.

Fresh data from the network of agents, which represents over 800 brands with more than 4,000 offices, shows it wasn't just buyers and tenants buoyed by increased market certainty, with a huge number of prospective sellers and landlords contacting agents last month.

Figures show that agent members of The ValPal Network generated 83,158 leads during January from prospective sellers and landlords requesting an instant online valuation of their property from an agent's website.

This represents a huge increase from the 37,400 online valuations leads generated by The ValPal Network's agents during December.

January's total is the highest monthly number of online valuation sales leads generated by agents since October 2018 when the figure peaked at 102,999.

Throughout 2019, the number of leads generated by The ValPal Network each month hovered between 40,000 and 60,000, demonstrating the significance of January's figure of almost 85,000.

On an annual basis, last month's performance was also notably strong, up from 45,565 leads in January 2019, 60,051 in January 2018 and 44,481 in January 2017.

The announcement from The ValPal Network follows the news that both Rightmove and OnTheMarket received record numbers of website visits in January.

Craig Vile, director of The ValPal Network, said: "Despite reports of increased confidence immediately after the election, it's clear that January was when the market resurgence really took off with huge numbers of sellers and landlords requesting instant online valuations from our agents. The election came less than two weeks before Christmas, so it’s likely many consumers waited until the New Year kicked off before acting on their interest – in many cases after a period of planning and discussion over the holidays.

"This increase in activity from prospective sellers and landlords paired with the rise in visits to the major portals shows people are more confident about market conditions and subsequently more committed to taking action in 2020."

Vile says that for agents to take advantage of increased activity from prospective sellers and landlords, they need to have all the marketing tools in place to keep their brand 'front of mind' with consumers.

He explains: "Increased demand for agents' services is undeniably positive news. However, it means competition between agents will intensify this year.

"Therefore, agencies need to make sure they're doing all they can to get their brand in front of as many potential clients as possible through a combination of prospecting, canvassing, social media and pay per click advertising, content marketing and PR. Promoting an online valuation tool through a holistic marketing strategy will help agents to generate more leads and benefit from a resurgent market."

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