Agents more likely to sell off-market instructions than switched listings - research

Estate agents are 54% more likely to secure a sale agreed on an off-market instruction than a property switched to them as the second agent, data has revealed. 

Figures provided by TwentyEA, part of the TwentyCi group, showed this figure had been rapidly increasing since the start of the year. 

In January 2023, an agent was 22% more likely to agree on a sale on an off-market instruction but in August 2023, the same figure had significantly risen to 54%.  The graph below demonstrates this increase. 

TwentyEA defines an off-market instruction as a property which has not been on the market in the past three months. 

Further research also showed that the volume of properties being switched to a second agent had dramatically risen by almost 80% compared with the beginning of last year. 

In January 2022, only 4.4% of all new instructions were switched to a second agent, but by August 2023, this figure had risen to 7.8% - a rise of nearly 80%.

Katy Billany, executive director of TwentyEA, said: “It stands to reason that we’d expect the percentage of instructions switched to a second estate agent to increase within a more challenging sales market. 

“However, the data shows these previously marketed properties carry a much smaller chance of converting into a sale agreed and are therefore less likely to generate revenue.  

“Agents who invest in off-market targeting - such as our Forecast AI tool - will be maximising their chances of securing instructions which are 54% more likely to generate revenue than properties which have been switched to them as the second agent. 

“Helping agents target the most valuable instructions is central to what we do which is why we continue to significantly invest in our transformational product suite. 

“Our Forecast tool uses AI and Machine Learning techniques to accurately predict who will move house in the next two months, delivering powerful information which can help agents to grow their market share, by being the first to contact those off-market properties in their patch which are most likely to instruct in the very near future.

“In addition, our data found that off-market instructions sell 10% faster than switched instructions, again highlighting the value of winning these properties.”