Flat fees, of the kind now offered by many online letting and sales agencies, will become the norm in the industry according to the head of easyProperty.
Rob Ellice – who this week announced the expansion of the easyProperty online lettings offer into the sales market too – says in an interview with Property Reporter that perhaps within the next six months the agency model will evolve.
“As online agents become the new norm, we could see many of our competitors offer our flat fees to keep their customers, and a radical rethink from high street agents on their commission rates” predicts Ellice.
In the short term he anticipates that agents will “shift towards a customised experience” with new technology “creating the impetus for more transparent and efficient ways of letting and selling a property, enabling customers to tailor their approach and take control of the process.”
In the longer term, the marketplace will undoubtedly change, with technology coming into play significantly over the next decade, enabling innovations in the way we view a property, as well as the means of letting and selling it he claims.
He says he cannot believe any agent setting up in business today would consider a high street office as a priority.