Shropshire estate agents ‘are bucking failure trend’

Pressure from online rivals continues to cause a problem for the industry, a new study has revealed.

The UK total of agent failures was only five more than the previous year, but thousands of firms are currently showing signs of financial distress, said accountants Moore Stephens.

But estate agents covering Shropshire and mid Wales believe they are bucking the trend thanks to their more "traditional" approach.

The study found bigger estate agents are feeling the strain just as much as smaller firms as they have higher staffing and property costs than companies trading online, said the report.

But in contrast, one of Shropshire’s oldest established agents, Balfours, last month opened a new boutique estate agency in Ludlow town centre.

Alistair Hilton, head of sales, said: “The study is a national picture and no one should brush the whole market together – the regional market has always been a very different model.

“We have an ever-growing pool of clients and repeat clients in Shropshire and bordering counties thanks to our traditional approach; this is very different from the digital and online markets where we do see more boards popping up. However, we believe it will be polarised, where traditional service will thrive, as will online and it is the middle market that will be squeezed further."

Innovations

Roger Parry, senior partner at Roger Parry & Partners Estate Agent, said: “These days to be a successful estate agency you have to offer your customers a traditional estate agency service whilst, at the same time, be able to offer modern innovations to improve your service for clients.

"We pride ourselves on being able to offer services such as 3D tours of properties, drone photography and marketing on online with our user-friendly website along with sites such as Zoopla, RightMove and OnTheMarket.com as well as top-class professional staff to deliver those services.

"Having been around for over 37 years now we’re currently looking at expansion plans for our business so appear to be bucking this trend.”

Chris Marsden, of Moore Stephens, said: "Insolvencies of high street estate agents are increasing as online competitors continue to chip away at their sales and undermine commission rates."

"Some areas in the UK appear to have an excess capacity of estate agents, which could mean there is not enough business to spread around as property transactions stagnate.

"Estate agents with a traditional model may have to look at whether they can reduce overheads and review their service offering to effectively compete in the current market."