Estate agency performance
The Property Market Isn't Dead. But Is Your Estate Agency Making Life Harder Than It Needs to Be?
Nearly a million UK property sales agreed this year, yet estate agents are still blaming the market for poor results. Perhaps it's time to look a little closer to home.
The market is difficult. I'll give you that.
I was reading the latest UK property market analysis this morning, and something struck me.
Nearly 989,000 residential sales have been agreed so far in 2026.
That's nearly a million occasions when a buyer and seller have agreed terms on a property.
Yet if you listen to some conversations taking place inside estate agency offices, you'd be forgiven for thinking nobody was moving.
"The market is dead."
"Buyers aren't committing."
"Vendors won't listen."
"Everyone's waiting for the Budget."
I've heard variations of these excuses throughout my career.
And before anyone jumps down my throat, I'm not suggesting that trading conditions are easy.
They're not.
There are genuine challenges. Affordability remains stretched for many buyers, mortgage costs have changed household budgets, and economic uncertainty affects confidence.
But here's the thing.
A challenging market and an underperforming estate agency are not necessarily the same thing.
And understanding the difference could be worth an awful lot of money to your business.
Nearly a million sales agreed. So where's the problem?
Recent industry analysis has highlighted approximately 989,000 UK residential sales agreed during 2026, with net sales of around 761,000 after fall-throughs.
At the beginning of October, approximately 764,000 homes were being marketed.
Those figures tell us something important.
There is activity.
There are buyers.
There are sellers.
And there are transactions taking place.
But there is also an enormous amount of property sitting on the market, alongside significant numbers of sales that never reach completion.
In September, the number of properties withdrawn from agents' books was reportedly almost as high as the number exchanged.
That should concern every independent estate agency owner.
Because behind every withdrawn instruction is potentially a disappointed customer, wasted marketing expenditure, lost staff time and commission that never materialised.
Of course, some withdrawals are unavoidable.
Circumstances change. Relationships break down. Financial situations alter.
But how many properties are being withdrawn because the original asking price was unrealistic?
How many sellers lose confidence because communication has deteriorated?
And how many instructions could have resulted in a sale if somebody had managed the relationship properly from the beginning?
These are questions worth asking before blaming the market.
Winning the instruction is only the beginning
Estate agency has always been competitive.
I've spent enough years in the industry to understand the pressure of winning instructions.
You walk into a valuation appointment knowing that two or three other agents may be competing for the same property.
Everyone wants the business.
Everyone wants the board.
Everyone wants the opportunity to earn the fee.
And sometimes that competitive pressure creates a problem.
We become so focused on winning the instruction that we forget what we're actually being instructed to do.
Sell the bloody house.
Not simply list it.
Not produce a glossy brochure.
Not generate a thousand online views.
Sell it.
And that starts with giving the seller an honest assessment of what their property is worth and what the market is likely to deliver.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with testing the market at an ambitious asking price, provided the seller understands the strategy, the risks and the agreed review points.
But there is a world of difference between a considered pricing strategy and telling someone what they want to hear simply to win their business.
One is professional advice.
The other is storing up problems for later.
The valuation appointment creates the expectations
Think about the typical valuation appointment.
An agent arrives enthusiastic, well-presented and armed with comparable evidence.
They explain their marketing strategy, their database of buyers and their ability to achieve the best possible result.
The seller is impressed.
The instruction is won.
Then the property launches.
The first week passes.
A few enquiries arrive, perhaps a viewing or two.
Then activity slows.
Suddenly the asking price becomes the problem.
But was it always the problem?
Was the property genuinely worth what the agent suggested?
Or did the agent know, even during the valuation, that the figure was optimistic?
I've always believed that one of the most important skills in estate agency is the ability to have an uncomfortable conversation before it becomes a bigger problem.
A difficult conversation at the valuation can save weeks of frustration later.
If the market suggests a property is worth £450,000, there is little value in confidently promising £500,000 without explaining the evidence and consequences.
You might win the instruction.
But what have you actually won?
Potentially months of frustrated communication, repeated marketing expenditure and an eventual price reduction that damages the seller's confidence.
And if the property is eventually withdrawn, nobody wins.
The weekly report isn't customer service
Here's another issue I keep coming across.
Communication.
Or rather, the lack of it.
We've invested enormous sums in technology designed to make estate agencies more efficient.
CRM systems.
Automated follow-ups.
Email marketing.
Vendor dashboards.
AI-generated reports.
And there's absolutely a place for all of them.
But somewhere along the way, we've started confusing sending information with communicating.
A seller receives a weekly report.
Their property has generated 2,347 online views.
Fantastic.
But what does that actually mean?
How many people made an enquiry?
How many were qualified?
How many viewed?
What objections are buyers raising?
What feedback are we hearing?
How does the property compare with competing stock?
And, most importantly, what are we going to do about it?
A report showing online views is data.
Explaining what that data means and recommending a course of action is estate agency.
There is a difference.
If a property isn't generating enquiries, somebody needs to explain why.
If viewings aren't converting, somebody needs to understand the objections.
If the market has moved, somebody needs to have the conversation.
And if the asking price needs adjusting, that recommendation should come with evidence and a clear strategy.
Not simply a phone call after six weeks of silence suggesting that the vendor should reduce by £20,000.
AI should create more time for conversations, not fewer
I'm a huge advocate of technology.
I genuinely believe AI will change the way estate agencies operate.
It can reduce administrative workloads, improve information management, support marketing and help teams identify opportunities that might otherwise be missed.
But I have one concern.
Are we using technology to become better estate agents, or simply to avoid doing the difficult parts of the job?
Because the difficult parts are often where the real value lies.
Telling a vendor their expectations are unrealistic.
Explaining why a buyer has withdrawn.
Negotiating between two parties who have completely different expectations.
Reassuring somebody whose sale has become complicated.
Those conversations require judgement, empathy and experience.
I've negotiated some of the most important transactions of my career face to face.
Not by email.
Not through automated messages.
By sitting down with people and talking.
Understanding what mattered to them.
Understanding where the problems were.
And working towards a solution.
Technology should give our people more time to do exactly that.
Not provide another excuse to hide behind a screen.
What are your withdrawals actually costing you?
Let's put some numbers against this.
Imagine an independent estate agency with 200 new instructions each year.
Its average completed sales fee is £3,000.
Now imagine that improvements to pricing, communication and vendor management result in just 10 additional completed transactions annually.
That's:
10 additional completions × £3,000 = £30,000 additional revenue.
No additional office.
No extra negotiator.
No enormous increase in marketing expenditure.
Just a better return from the opportunities the business already has.
Of course, the figures are illustrative. Not every withdrawn property could have sold, and there are costs associated with servicing additional transactions.
But the principle is important.
An agency doesn't necessarily need more leads to increase revenue.
Sometimes it needs to stop losing the opportunities it already has.
And when you consider how much money agencies spend generating instructions in the first place, that becomes even more significant.
Five questions every estate agency owner should be asking
If I were sitting down with an independent estate agency owner today, these are five areas I'd want to understand.
1. How many instructions are you winning, and how many actually complete?
Not just sales agreed. Completed transactions.
What percentage of your instructions eventually produce a fee?
2. How many properties are withdrawn, and why?
Do you genuinely understand the reasons, or are withdrawals simply accepted as part of the business?
3. How accurate are your original asking prices?
How frequently do you recommend reductions, how quickly do they happen and what does that tell you about your valuation process?
4. How often are your vendors receiving meaningful communication?
Not automated reports.
Actual conversations that provide advice, reassurance and a plan.
5. Who is accountable for the journey between instruction and completion?
Does somebody genuinely own that relationship?
Or does responsibility drift between valuers, negotiators and sales progressors?
These aren't particularly complicated questions.
But you'd be surprised how difficult some businesses find them to answer.
And that's where opportunities start to appear.
The market isn't going to fix your business
There's always going to be something happening in the wider economy.
Interest rates.
Elections.
Budgets.
Mortgage availability.
Consumer confidence.
And yes, these things influence the housing market.
But as an estate agency owner, you can't control them.
What you can control is how your business operates.
You can control the quality of your advice.
You can control your team's accountability.
You can control your follow-up procedures.
You can control how quickly problems are identified.
And you can control whether your customers feel informed, supported and valued.
I learned a long time ago that building a successful estate agency isn't about waiting for perfect market conditions.
It's about building a business that performs in the conditions you've actually got.
That doesn't mean every property will sell.
It doesn't mean every transaction will complete.
And it certainly doesn't mean every month will be easy.
But it does mean you should know where your opportunities are being lost and have a plan to improve.
Small fixes. Meaningful results.
When I speak to independent estate agency owners, I'm often struck by how much attention is given to generating more business.
More leads.
More valuations.
More instructions.
More marketing.
And yet, some of the biggest opportunities are sitting inside the business already.
A better valuation process.
A more structured vendor review.
Improved follow-up.
Clearer accountability.
More meaningful communication.
Individually, these changes might seem relatively small.
Collectively, they can have a significant impact on revenue, profitability and customer satisfaction.
The best opportunity for growth might not be the next instruction you win. It might be the instruction you've already got.
And that's something worth thinking about before your next Monday morning meeting.
Could your estate agency be performing better?
I'm Dominic Murphy, The Estate Agency Consultant.
I've spent years building and growing estate agency businesses, experiencing the highs, the lows and just about everything in between.
Today, I work with independent estate agency owners to identify the small changes that can produce meaningful improvements in performance, profitability and the way their businesses operate.
Through The Estate Agency Audit, I get under the bonnet of your business, identify where opportunities are being missed and work with you to put a practical 90-day improvement plan into action.
No complicated theories. No generic advice.
Just a fresh pair of experienced eyes, honest conversations and a clear plan.
If you're working harder than ever but aren't seeing the results you should be, let's have a conversation.
Visit www.dominicmurphy.com or get in touch directly.
Lived it. Loved it. Loathed it. But most importantly, learned from it.
Industry context: UK residential market analysis published by Property Industry Eye, 23 October 2026. Market figures are approximate and reflect the reporting period cited, rather than final full-year results.