Inefficient Sales Progression Could Cost Estate Agencies Up to 21 Exchanges Annually

LONDON, UK – 26 Sep 24, ViewMyChain in association with TwentyEA, have recently analysed July fall through rates by examining the time it takes to sell a property.  Their findings not only confirmed the general view that the risk of fall through rises as the time to sell a property increases, but that it does so quite significantly and at a greater cost than most agencies might realise.  


To assess the cost of poor sales progression, the analysis examined performance data from the UK’s top 500 estate agents over the past year (September 2023 to August 2024), focusing on the time taken to progress a sale to exchange. As a benchmark, the study evaluated the performance of the 100 agents with the slowest sales progression out of the 500. On average, these agents took 5.2 months to complete a sale, compared to the market average of 4.0 months. Unsurprisingly, the top 100 agents averaged just 2.7 months. 


Crucially, what this means is that these poor progressing agents turn their stock only 2.3 times per year versus the market, which turn their stock over three times per year.  The best 100 agents are turning their stock over 4.5 times per year. 


Given the average sale price of properties handled by the Top 500 agents (£451k) and assuming a 1% commission, this results in lost commissions of £938,697 per agent brand or £97,274 per agent branch. That translates to approximately 21 exchanges lost per branch. This analysis assumes that new stock can be acquired and sold. But based on TwentyEA’s latest market data—showing new instructions are up 10.5% and sales agreed are 17.4% higher than last year—this does not appear to be a concern. 


When comparing the performance of the lowest-ranking 100 brands with the top 100, the difference is striking. The cost in lost commissions amounts to £2.8 million per agent brand, or £294,026 per agent branch. 


These numbers should be concerning to most agents as even as far as back as pre-pandemic 2019, poor sales progression affected all agents at the time, with an estimated loss of £96k per branch per annum.   


It’s clearly a wider issue that every agent, regardless of their location or how many leasehold properties they sell, should address. And whilst some agencies might argue that they may face unique challenges, the data also shows that neither local authority turn-around times nor leasehold properties are the top national factor in determining poor sales progression.   


The range of shortcomings in the process that are hindering successful exchanges are well known, and each one will require a significant push to resolve – though a lack of chain data appears to be one of the most frequently cited reasons.  


Paul Halliwell, Executive Director at ViewMyChain, commented: "The numbers clearly show that something has to give. Agents need full visibility of the entire chain, as well as timely progress updates on each property within it—without depending on another party's availability or the quality of their feedback. This is precisely the gap that ViewMyChain fills, addressing the industry's biggest chain visibility challenges in real time. The material hurdle is in fact not data availability, as we have already solved that. Instead, I believe it’s a software adoption issue, but when compared to the costs of poor sales progression, it seems like an infinitely small price to pay."