When Josh spoke at the EA Masters, he focused on a number of themes, all aimed at highlighting how to find an edge over the competition. Josh feels strongly that building long-term relationships with clients is of paramount importance. Indeed, he cites the analogy of agents learning from a dentist. Would you leave a dentist without them having booked you in for another appointment? So why don’t estate agents agree a follow-up date with someone who has just done business with them, whether a vendor, buyer, tenant or landlord?
This could be a phone call to ask if a move has gone smoothly, a yearly check-up or regular communication by email. However, the challenge is how to provide that client with something that they want to hear about. And this is where market insight is invaluable. Sharing your knowledge of the market, and more importantly how a client’s local market is faring will keep them interested.
With this in mind, we worked with Josh to create an example of how Dataloft market insight can provide a talking point, as well as help to demonstrate the expertise of an agent. The findings are below.
Which housing markets are bubbling up?
With ‘uncertainty’ being the buzzword of the moment, we are all fascinated by property market conditions. Is the market flat everywhere or are there still pockets of opportunity?
To find out, we conducted some analysis using data from across England and Wales. Here’s what we examined:
Stock turnover figures were based on transaction volumes over the past year (May 2018 – April 2019) and private sector dwellings numbers as at 1st April 2018 (ONS, released May 2019). At the time this analysis was prepared, stock turnover was at 1.9%, with annual house price growth at 0.9%*.
Price growth: this is based on annual price growth in the year to June taken from the UK House Price Index (UKHPI).
The areas are based on local authority districts and the locations highlighted are those that performed best in each category and showed a good regional spread.
*Since producing the infographic, a new UK House Price Index has been produced. Annual price growth across England and Wales is now at 1.2%.
A key to the infographic
Top right section (orange): this is the place to look for owners thinking about cashing in equity, with stock turnover high and price growth still positive.
Top left (yellow): prices at present have hit a ceiling in these markets, but activity levels remain high. Vendors need to be realistic in terms of prices that can be achieved.
Bottom right (green): currently a tough market for buyers but great if you can find the rare stock. Price growth continues but there is likely little stock on the market. This presents an opportunity for sellers looking to enter the market.
Bottom left (blue): don’t make the mistake of dismissing the markets down here. These are cyclical trends and these markets will bubble back up before long. This section presents opportunity for those in it for the long term.
What are the key take-outs from the analysis?
On the surface, the market looks flat, with price growth now at 0.5%. This is down from 2.8% this time in 2018 and 4.5% in 2017. However, given the maelstrom of current political and economic uncertainty, the fact that there is still growth, points to the resilience of the UK housing market. And, as Josh also suggested in his presentation, history has shown that when uncertainty clears (if we ever see the end of Brexit!), the market tends to bounce back.
For now, despite price growth slowing, what our analysis demonstrates is that there are still areas where the housing market is nicely bubbling up. Indeed, what can also be surmised is that the housing market across England and Wales is far from uniform.
Local area markets are reacting differently and there is no one size fits all. Analysis of levels of stock turnover and annual price growth points to a number of different market scenarios.
As an agent, it pays to be aware of this and to be able to share your expertise with clients. People are now extremely well informed and want to work with an agent who can genuinely demonstrate their knowledge of the market at all times.
As Josh said: ‘Make it easier for the customer. Build consistency. Learn how to serve customers in new and better ways'. If you’d like to find out more about how Dataloft can help you communicate with your customers in new and better ways, we’d love to hear from you.
