Yomdel has reported in their latest sentiment tracker that their enquiry levels remain high at 64% above average, as estate agents scramble to meet demand as vendor, buyer and landlord enquiries remain at record levels.
Despite a dip in new enquiries as a result of the pandemic, overall the levels remained at more than 60% above the pre-vovid-19 average.
In the week ending the 28 June there was a slight dip in new enquiry volumes from vendors and landlords to finish at 62% and 64% above the average, which demand from landlords ended the week at their highest point since before January 2019. Tenant demand remained strong at 43% above average levels, although this was just below its peak reached in mid-2019.
Commenting on the chat service Yomdel provides to 3,800 estate agent offices in the UK, Andy Soloman, Yomdel founder and CEO said:
“Things have settled somewhat in the past week, and while the flow of new leads to estate agents via live chat has slowed a little, this is only really moving from a fast boil to rapid simmer. New opportunities are still flooding in, and listing and transaction data shows deals are being done.
“We may be seeing the emergence of the latest “new normal” with elevated demand but this is no time for estate agents to pause for breath, they need to be urgently assisting home movers while they can. We’ve just seen another lockdown imposed in Leicester, so the advice has to be to do as much as possible as quickly as possible, but importantly, as safely as possible,”
Although estate agent website visitor volumes are no longer at the all time record levels, they still remain 28% above the same week a year ago. The people requiring online support via live chat is 63% above the pre-covid-19 average as people have more questions and turn to the immediacy a live chat brings.
The YPST methodology establishes a base line average shown as 100% or 100, calculated according to average engagement values over the 62 weeks prior to the lockdown, and plots movements from there according to the volumes of people engaging in live chat, their stated needs, questions asked, and new business leads generated. Data is measured over full 24-hour periods.
New vendor enquiries dipped slightly but remained 62% above the pre-covid-19 62-week average, ending the week a down 1.7%, or 2.81 points, to finish at 161.60.
Buyers followed suit, dropping 2.6%, or 4.39 points, to 164.30, but they remained an incredibly strong 64% above pre-covid-19 averages.
Landlords also cooled slightly but finished some 38% above the pre-covid-19 average dropping 1.16%, or 1.62 points, to finish at 137.53.
Demand from tenants has fallen strongest from a lockdown high of 150% above the average reached in mid-April, to settle at a still strong 43% above the pre-covid-19 average, down 7.65%, or 11.88 points, on the week at 143.37.
Talking about the current situation Soloman added:
“UK estate agents remain incredibly busy and the market is buoyant. More and more home movers are now dipping not only their toes but their whole legs into pool, and agents tell us how motivated many of these people are. It is challenging, and many processes and activities have to be re-imagined, but demand is clearly there.”
The following graph looks at the relationship between website visitor volumes, live chat volumes and the volume of leads generated. The data samples 31 million visitors to estate agent websites from Jan 2019 – 28 June and shows how web traffic to estate agents’ websites (blue line) remains at record levels and 28% above the same week last year. The volume of people using live chat (red line) and the numbers of new business leads captured (purple line) have increased exponentially, with live chat adoption 63% above the pre-covid-19 average. Before coronavirus all three (visitors, live chat engagement, leads generated) tracked each other, but not anymore.
