Online Agents Not Quite On Top Due to High Street Performers
The consumer group, HomeOwners Alliance (HOA) said recently that Britain’s online real estate agents are beginning to pass up many of their on the street competitors starting to outperform many of them, according to research.
They analyzed statistics from ten top agents, including YOPA, PurpleBricks, and eMoov, and decided that those representatives online earn 95.85% of the initial listed price. This was bumped up against a national average of 95.69% from those on the street. A high street agent in the UK, per HOA, would make a commission of 1.3% contrasted with a fee of £849 for a non-London listing by, for example, eMoov, and a customer would realize a savings in the vicinity of £2,500 on the sale of a residence with an average price of £234,000 by going online.
HOA, “however, found that the top 1,000 high street agents found on its EstateAgent4Me (EA4ME) online tool outperformed online agents when it comes to getting more than the original asking price, achieving an average selling price of 100.35% of their value. They also had a higher success rate, selling 82.42% of homes listed with them compared to 51.98% among online agents. The top 1,000 high street agents were identified using EA4ME data and defined as the agents with the best track record of securing over the asking price for their sellers.”
Speed is of the essence and in that area, and online agents appear to make faster sales than an average competitor on the street. But, the 1,000 high street agents at the top took only 21 days to sell a property.
PurpleBricks sold 61.5% of its listing making it the top online agency. YOPA was on top with getting the price asked for in 97.07% of those cases. It was also the fastest, usually making a sale inside of 29 days.
Paula Higgins, HOA’s chief executive, says that it depends on what kind of seller you are. “Sellers who look carefully at their local market before listing their home for sale will probably still be better off instructing the best high street agent in their area, said Higgins. “But for those looking for a quick, easy sale with surprisingly high rewards, online agents are an excellent and rapidly improving option.”