A new league table of estate agents has been compiled, offering insight into who the busiest UK estate agents are based on how many properties they have on their books.
The estate agent comparison site, GetAgent, has produced the league table that measures estate agent market share, telling us which of the corporate agencies have the most homes for sale on their books.
While the league table does not explicitly say these are the ‘best’ agents in the country, it does offer insight into who the most successful are because, if an agency has a large market share, it suggests they’re good at winning instructions and then finding buyers.
And because of their large market share, these agents are likely to be the most high profile among the public and are, therefore, going to be regular stops for buyers who are scouring the market for homes. For sellers, this could provide the best possible chance for a home to attract quality buyers.
The largest UK market share is held by Connells. Operating in West London, Midlands, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, and the Southern UK, they have a 2.5% market share.
While 2.5% might seem small, when you consider just how many estate agents there are in the UK, it’s an impressive haul. If you’re looking to sell a home in the regions covered by Connells, they’re a really good bet with a strong presence.
Second on the list is William H Brown which covers Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. With a total UK market share of 2.2%, they’re prolific sellers who attract the eyes of millions of buyers every year.
Third on the list is Hart (1.6% market share) who operate across most of the UK with a keen focus on the east of England, followed by Savills (1.5%) and Your Move (1.4%), both of which operate throughout the UK.
Where are Purplebricks?
The significant market share enjoyed by these agents suggests that sellers can rely on them to do a good job of finding buyers, but the list makes one very large omission: no Purplebricks.
GetAgent says they excluded Purplebricks in order to only compare ‘apples with apples’, suggesting that the Purplebricks online model does not make a fair comparison with the traditional high street agent model.
Neglecting to include Purplebricks is an understandable decision, but it’s difficult to ignore the influence that the hybrid agent now has in the UK. While we don’t currently know Purplebricks’s market share, we do know that they have increased their instructions (the number of houses they have on their books) by 12% since the start of 2021.
It’s worth mentioning, however, that the up-front fixed-fee model used by Purplebricks makes them very attractive to sellers – it’s a cheaper alternative to highstreet agent model of fees/commission.
The traditional commission model that highstreet agents use means the agent doesn’t get paid until they successfully sell a house – this motivates them to work hard to find quality buyers.
Purplebricks agents, however, do not charge a commission, instead charging a standard up-front fee. This means that they get paid for winning instructions, not for selling homes. This raises questions around how motivated they are to find quality buyers for their clients’ homes.
