Breaking Property News – 23/05/2023
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.
BriefYourMarket powers social media lead generation
Estate agents know that social media is a powerful tool for lead generation. Apart from portals, agents found social media, particularly Facebook, to be the most impactful lead generator to win new vendors. Uilising social media, many are seeing incredible results, vastly increasing their exposure and generating qualified vendor leads. The problem is most agents do all of this in a piecemeal and time consuming way.
Many agents do not understand the significant difference between simply having a presence on social media and actively working with a specialised team to create engaging campaigns that yield wide-ranging exposure and tangible results. Lead generation on auto-pilot.
Richard Combellack, Chief Commercial Officer at BriefYourMarket, part of nurtur.group, says: “There is a disparity between using an individual profile for posting and gaining exposure, versus collaborating with experienced professionals who can create compelling campaigns.
While a regular post on Facebook for example, may be seen by only a few hundred people, a paid advertising campaign has the potential to reach thousands within a precisely targeted audience. The audience will be based on location, interests, engagement with the business, and the characteristics shared by the agent’s best clients. The expertise of a specialised team allows for a strategic approach that maximises engagement and generates substantial returns on investment.”
He adds that effectively using social media as a lead generation platform is often more intricate than many people realise, especially with evolving algorithms. “Navigating the ever-changing algorithms of social media platforms can be a daunting task for businesses. There might be times when an agent is struggling to ensure their content reaches the right audience due to algorithmic changes.
However, marketing specialists like BriefYourMarket have the dedicated manpower, knowledge and experience to adapt their strategies to algorithmic updates swiftly. By staying up-to-date with the latest trends and algorithms, these experts can ensure that businesses’ marketing efforts remain effective and reach their target audience,” Combellack comments.
He notes that it is not just social media that BriefYourMarket can help estate agents with when it comes to effectively managing their marketing communication and lead generation plans. “A recent report highlighted the frustrations faced by agents in their marketing efforts, which included budget constraints, cost-effectiveness, time management, and the need for a dedicated team to handle marketing tasks.
Many of these can be addressed by working with professional support,” says Combellack. “Businesses often find it challenging to allocate sufficient funds to their marketing efforts while expecting tangible results. Professional marketing teams like BriefYourMarket understand the importance of working within budgetary constraints.
We are able to assist agents in developing tailored marketing strategies that make the most of available resources, maximising the return on investment and delivering cost-effective solutions that drive results. Having a deep understanding of the different marketing platforms and channels, enables our team to provide valuable insights into the potential rewards of each channel and help businesses make informed decisions, ensuring that marketing investments yield the desired outcomes.”
According to Combellack, marketing requires consistent effort and attention to detail, which can be overwhelming for businesses focused on core operations. Building and managing an in-house team can also take a lot of time and significant investment, as well as keeping up with the ever-evolving marketing landscape.
He adds that delegating marketing responsibilities to a dedicated team, such as BriefYourMarket, allows businesses to free up valuable time and resources. Marketing professionals, have the expertise to efficiently manage marketing tasks, implement strategies, and monitor performance, saving businesses time and allowing them to focus on their core competencies.
“The frustrations mentioned are common challenges faced by businesses in their marketing endeavours. However, by enlisting the support of professional marketing teams like BriefYourMarket, agents can overcome these obstacles and achieve their marketing goals.
These teams possess the expertise to navigate algorithms, optimise budgets, measure cost-effectiveness, manage time efficiently, and provide dedicated support. By leveraging the specialised knowledge and resources of marketing professionals, agents can alleviate their marketing frustrations and unlock the full potential of their marketing efforts,” Combellack concludes.
As the owner and editor of Proptech-X and being a NED for the nurtur.accelerator, I freely admit an interest in the above Press Release sent in to our and many other publications. But with my other hat on, as an ex-agent of many decades, I fully understand that to be a modern brand who wants to trade into the 2030’s, agents need to have a strategy that gets them there. Which makes this item so newsworthy especially in a challenging market.
Just as agents could make their own for sale or to-let boards; outsourcing essential services and functions to professionals like BriefTheMarket, makes sure agents can focus on core activities. Yes it is far cheaper to do nothing, and muddle through, but it is no coincidence that brand new agencies run by tech savvy agents, are eating the market share of established businesses, because the public communicate, and research things in a very different way to ten years ago, and if agents are not in this mix they will see declining revenues.
Landlords see opportunities in property sector despite tough economic climate
Property investors signalling confidence in UK market
Press Release – London, 23 May 2023 – Despite the economic uncertainty, large portfolio professional landlords are in a confident mood, with the majority planning to acquire at least one new asset in the coming year, new independent research conducted on behalf of property business expert Handelsbanken shows.
Other key findings include:
- Six out of 10 are set to acquire more properties in the year ahead
- Of these, over half plan to diversify into new sectors
- 92% expect to see valuations rebound
- London and South East cited as most attractive regions
The Handelsbanken Professional Landlords Survey – based on nationwide research among large UK investors with an average of 29 properties worth c £14 million each – found that 59% plan to expand their portfolios in the year ahead, underlining their confidence in the long-term value of UK property as an asset class. Just 14% expect to sell some or all their properties.
Over half (57%) of those looking to buy more properties also plan to diversify into new sectors, with offices (43%) attracting the most interest as investors look to take advantage of depressed valuations.
The overwhelming majority of respondents (92%) expect the value of their portfolio to increase over the next 12 months, with 39% predicting it will grow by over 20%. Only 8% thought it will broadly stay the same.
James Sproule, UK Chief Economist, at Handelsbanken said: “The bottoming out of commercial property prices in Q1 2023 corresponds with reasonably positive sentiment expressed towards the sector in this survey.
“Commercial property values saw a major correction in the second half of 2022 as a direct impact of the higher interest rate environment. Average retail property prices were down by 15%, office prices were also down by 15%, and industrial unit prices were down by 25%.
“In addition, there are the ongoing considerations around post pandemic working practices and retailing habits which, until they are more settled, will be weighing on commercial property valuations.”
Geographically, three-fifths of respondents expanding their portfolio are also planning to buy in new regions. London was cited as the most attractive region over the next 12 months by investors (27%), followed by the South East (26%). Areas seen as less attractive for property investment are Yorkshire and the Humber and the West Midlands, both attracting interest from only 9% of the sample.
The table below shows how professional property investors rate the attractiveness of regions across the country.
| REGION | PERCENTAGE VIEWING THE REGION AS MOST ATTRACTIVE OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS |
| London | 27% |
| South East | 26% |
| East of England | 24% |
| East Midlands | 21% |
| North West | 20.5% |
| Scotland | 17% |
| North East & Cumbria | 15% |
| South West | 14.5% |
| Northern Ireland | 12% |
| Wales | 10.5% |
| West Midlands | 9% |
| Yorkshire & The Humber | 8.5% |
Danielle Coe, Leamington Spa branch manager said: “As we can see from these results, there’s a regional variation in landlord sentiment. The findings highlight how important it is to know the area where you are planning to invest, especially as we can see landlords say they’re looking to diversify geographically.
“Because our branches are located in the areas we serve, we have a deep knowledge of the local market and are able to offer property professionals informed advice to allow them to make decisions that work for them. Our customers are telling us that they find it a real benefit to have this expertise ‘on their doorstep’.”
Read the 2023 Handelsbanken Professional Landlords Survey.
This report follows Handelsbanken’s inaugural property report in 2022, conducted amongst SME landlords with a minimum of four properties in their portfolio. On average, respondents owned 7.5 properties with an estimated total market value of £2.76 million.
Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward. PropTech-X
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