It’s tough going for High Street agents says online boss

The shortage of stock in the current market is making it tough for High Street agents according to one of the country’s most prominent online/hybrid advocates.

Adam Day set up online firm Hatched in the early era of internet agencies, and went on to become an executive at another online firm easyProperty; now he leads eXp UK, this country’s version of the US agency.

It operates using a remote network of experienced property agents, each of which operates his or her own personal brand.

It has 250 self-employed estate agents signed up to its platform as a result of what he describes as a surge in interest over the past two years.

Commenting on the current market, Day - whose official title is International Expansion leader at eXp UK - says: “We’ve already seen an immensely competitive start to the year for buyers and we can expect that to intensify in March and April. However, with inflation now soaring and the prospect of interest rates moving up, buyer demand could start to die down after the fast-approaching peak. 

“As long as sellers start to come back to the market, we should see a more stable housing market in the coming months. It’s tough in particular for high street estate agents with high overheads as they have to list and sell a certain number of properties each month to keep themselves going. 

“Since the pandemic, we’ve seen a surge in agents becoming self-employed, working under a banner like eXp UK, where there are fewer fixed monthly costs and far less pressure to secure more than just a couple of sales per month, which, in turn, leads to a more personalised customer service.” 

eXp recently announced it was working with Iamproperty to include the Modern Method of Auction as a sales option for its remote agents to offer vendors.