The UK property market is often described as a rollercoaster, and anyone who's ridden that ride knows it can be an emotional rollercoaster too. Something that estate agents and conveyancers are all too well aware of, often taking the heat for events outside of their control.
Research paints a stark picture of just how stressful the home buying and selling process can be. According to a 2024 survey by Moneybox, 37% of recent homeowners in the UK rated buying a home as one of the most stressful life events they'd experienced. That's a higher stress rating than job hunting, planning a wedding, or even having a child. This stress isn't without merit. Buying a home is typically the largest financial transaction people make in their lifetimes, so the stakes are naturally high.
The lack of visibility into the often-convoluted workings of the property chain only adds to the pressure. Research from First In The Door shows that 51.1% of UK adults find the home buying process stressful and time-consuming, and almost as many (48.7%) struggle to navigate their interactions with the various stakeholders involved: estate agents, surveyors, mortgage advisors, and solicitors. When you combine the financial weight of a property purchase with a lack of clarity about what's happening and when, it's easy to see why anxiety levels soar.
This anxiety manifests in a constant need for reassurance, leading buyers and sellers to bombard estate agents with calls and emails seeking updates. Moneybox’s 2024 study also found that 28% of recent homebuyers cited solicitors not getting back to them as the top cause of stress. This constant need for information translates into a deluge of calls and emails for estate agents, diverting valuable time and resources away from core business activities. But it's not just estate agents who are feeling the pressure. Conveyancers, already grappling with heavy workloads due to increasing compliance requirements, face a similar volume of inquiries from anxious clients desperate for updates.
So, how can estate agents break this cycle of stress and uncertainty? The answer lies in providing more clarity – but not by way of doing more of what is already being done. Because if there is there is one thing that is abundantly clear it is that we are not where we are due to a lack of effort. Not when everywhere you turn you read and hear of exhausted sales negotiators rushed off their feet, and record numbers of conveyancers considering leaving the profession. Instead, adding more clarity will require doing something different: adding the right technology.
In a fast-changing world where consumer demands are high, made so in part by consumer brands who excel at customer service and speedy everything, the differentiator will be the reliance on technology that can multiply the effort investment of your existing teams.
By leveraging technology - such as MoveMe, a consumer facing chain visibility tool - to bring clarity and efficiency to the often-murky world of property chains, estate agents can transform a traditionally stressful experience into a smoother, more positive journey for all. Allowing agents to focus on what they do best – guiding clients through one of life's biggest milestones with expertise and care.
*This article originally appeared on Estate Agent Today on 09 October 2024.