One of the country's largest surveys of landlords shows that over half of them would never use an online letting agent over a traditional high street agent.
The analysis of responses from 2,948 landlords for the latest Property Academy Landlord Survey shows that only seven of them said they would use an online agent over a high street equivalent while a dominant 56 per cent said they would not. The other 37 per cent said they were unsure.
The result shows the scale of the challenge faced by easyProperty which launches its online rental service in just over two weeks' time, and by existing online offerings from Purplebricks and many others.
The reasons given for the preference were predominantly the importance of local knowledge, the preference for face-to-face contact and accessibility.
However, 59 per cent of tenants questioned in a parallel survey said they found their properties to rent online.
The survey also revealed that only four per cent of landlords directly publicised their properties on social media such as Facebook or Twitter; only 10 per cent of landlords said they would connect with their letting agent via social media, and of those most wanting simple guidance and market information through this route.
An overwhelming 90 per cent of landlords said they did not wish to connect with their letting agent through social media at all.
.png)
%20(002).png)
Comments
'.....However, 59 per cent of tenants questioned in a parallel survey said they found their properties to rent online....'.
Talk about stating the obvious! Most now do 'find' their properties on-line. That does not mean that the majority do not use a face-to-face agent - they do - the one that advertised it on-line
Like anything it is down to personal choice. Personally as a Landlord I like to be able to meet the tenant and the agent I use, but I am like that in all my major business. The real issue is probably due to many people who are landlords are older and in that fashion more traditional in their approach like me, whereas many tenants are younger and embrace the online searching. As this generation become landlords it will most likely balance out, also the 'concerns' over this lack of contact will most likely have been laid to rest by the quality online offerings.
Interesting that opinion is so 'polarised' in that there will be online or traditional, whereas in truth there will probably end up a balanced mix.
depends wether you see the glass as half full or half empty there is a lot in the research to support interest and trial in online. Be interested to see how the sample was derived as the claimed use of letting agents to manage properties does not match other surveys. Part of the challenge with online has been the lack of nationally supported trusted brands,the pioneers in this space have done a good job with little investment we will see if the addition of new well funded brands like easyProperty and purple bricks changes the market dynamics.
I would assume that the 37% would give the online agents a try once they have a better understanding. Additionally, "over" a traditional Maybe not in some cases. "In conjunction to", likely so.
I'm sure Easy Property, Purple Bricks, Upad, Makeurmove and other online letting agents will develop a significant market share over time. It just takes time to educate landlords and tenants on the benefits.
I am not surprised by these statistics at all. Any Landlord with a decent property looking for a decent tenant is not interested in "gimmicks" like social media and on-line agents to let their property. They know that a listing on Rightmove and the other one! is enough.
They also know that any letting agent worth their salt needs to meet the prospective tenant(s) before offering a tenancy.