The survey, which questioned leading estate agents from across the country, reported that in the next ten years:
• 66% of agents will be likely to focus on their web offering, with a further 28% seeing it as a possibility;
• At least 20% of those surveyed believed that a move from the high street to the home would be possible or likely;
• 33% believed that they would move out of the high street to an alternative location.
Robin King, movewithus director, stated: “With the average high street office costing an estate agent anything from £50,000 p.a upwards, the move to embrace technology is a canny one on the part of the estate agent in terms of getting more bang for their bucks. Many business sectors are focusing a higher proportion of their efforts on developing business online and service businesses like estate agency can learn from some of the successful trailblazers among larger travel and retail organizations.
“The high street office may become a bit of a ‘white elephant’, as although customers seek the help of a professional, to advise and negotiate on their behalf, they are initiating their search and seem more comfortable with online brands. In the next ten years we are going to see increasing numbers of agents developing their technology in order to meet this type of customer, whilst becoming more cost-efficient and covering a greater area of the market through their online offering.”
