Research from property platform, WiggyWam, revealed that UK estate agents currently have more than 582,000 properties in their pipeline, worth an estimated value of £143 billion.
The almost incomprehensible volume of pipeline stock equates to more than £2bn worth of agency fees in abeyance. Taking the UK as a whole, this means each and every estate agency branch is currently waiting on £105,000 worth of fees.
Pipeline stock refers to the number of properties that agents currently have in their transaction pipeline, from those which have been listed and are yet to find a buyer, to those for which an offer has been accepted but the final contracts are yet to exchange.
Agents do not receive their fee (a UK average of 1.5% commission) until a transaction is completed, so every property sitting in their pipeline represents revenue which they cannot yet access.
Agents in London alone are dealing with a pipeline stock of almost 93,000 properties worth an accumulated value of £45.5 billion. Agents in Manchester, Birmingham, and Bristol also appear towards the top of the list.
While Birmingham has significantly more properties in the pipeline than Bristol, the significantly higher average house price in Bristol (£304,209 compared to £192,900) means that the value of the pipeline and the fees in abeyance is greater than Birmingham.
This also explains why Bournemouth does not appear in the top 10 for number of pipeline properties (3,141) but has the UK’s 8th highest pipeline value. There are relatively few properties but an average house price of £292,394.
Top 10 UK Cities by Total Estate Agent Pipeline Stock (number of properties)
- London - 92,776
- Birmingham - 8,814
- Bristol - 7,359
- Manchester - 7,219
- Liverpool - 6,846
- Nottingham - 6,498
- Glasgow - 5,688
- Leeds - 4,844
- Sheffield - 4,438
- Leicester - 3,475
Silas J. Lees, CEO of WiggyWam, says: “I’m astounded by these figures which are far higher than anyone could have expected. It highlights the immediate need for systemic change in the industry; particularly the need to build a bridge between the agency and legal sides of homebuying to help clear this backlog. For agents, in particular, this is proof that complacency is now your worst enemy. There is just too much to lose.
“Our mission at WiggyWam has always been to remove the barriers preventing people from moving home. Working alongside agents and the legal profession to streamline the legal process means we can guarantee deals exchange in less than half the time they currently take.”
