Traditional estate agents providing good value for money despite slower market conditions

A survey of UK home sellers by leading estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has found that estate agents are widely considered good value for money when it comes to fee and value.

GetAgent surveyed over 5,000 home sellers to have purchased a property over the last year, gauging opinion on subjects such as fee, the price achieved, service and transaction time.

84% of those surveyed used a traditional estate agent to sell their home with 69% of those feeling the fee paid represented good value for money.

When asked to rate the service level provided while selling out of 10, the average score by those surveyed was a seven.

However, wider market conditions are impacting home seller sentiment when it comes to price achieved and the time to sell.

Just 40% of sellers achieved the sold price they wanted for their property, with 30% almost achieving the right price while a further 30% felt the price achieved didn’t meet expectations.

63% of home sellers also felt that the transaction took too long, with 35% feeling it took the right amount of time and just 2% selling quicker than expected.

When asked if they were likely to move again, 36% stated they were not planning another move, while 26% don’t plan to move for 10 years or more and 14% aren’t intending to repeat the process for five to 10 years.

Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented:

“We’ve seen some big changes to the sector over the last decade through the rise and fall of the online agent and this consumer learning curve has led to an adjustment in opinion when it comes to the fee charged to sell a home.

While a low fixed fee may have seemed like the future of home selling and many may have sold successfully via that model, a number of high-profile company collapses along with a consistent string of customer service failures has seen the market share of online agents fail to live up to expectation.

Previously, the commission fee charged by traditional agents was seen as too high, I think the consumer is now starting to realise that you get what you pay for. To pay a few thousand pounds in commission to achieve a higher sold price while securing a buyer in current market conditions is ultimately much better value for money than a few hundred up front and no sale achieved at the end of it.

Of course, the current lethargy plaguing the market is not ideal and has evidently had an impact on the price achieved and the time it’s taking to sell, but I think it has helped demonstrate the worth of a good estate agent which is a silver lining for the industry at least.”