Most agents believe the recent Budget was a wasted opportunity, and the Government doesn’t know how to help the property industry.
Findings from two major surveys reveal the discontent among estate agents with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (main picture) and other ministers responsible for housing policy.
Inadequate
A poll of 833 property professionals, commissioned by GetAgent, found that the vast majority were disappointed with the lacklustre Budget.
More than a quarter (27%) described the Budget as ‘inadequate’, and a further 54% said it was ‘underwhelming’.
The industry had been expecting an announcement on a 99% mortgage, but this was scrapped just days before, a decision that 56% agreed with.
Stamp Duty
There had been hopes of another Stamp Duty reduction, and 71% believe this should have been included by the government.
Two thirds (67%) said there should have been a buyer incentive introduced to help kick-start the market, with 64% stating they would have liked to have seen more focus on housing supply.
And a massive 83% think more should have been done to improve the homebuying and selling process.
The Tory party may as well have ignored the property market altogether.”
Colby Short, Co-founder and CEO, GetAgent
Colby Short, Co-founder and CEO of comparison platform GetAgent, says: “During what is likely their last budget for years to come, the Tory party may as well have ignored the property market altogether.
“Despite predictions, or maybe hopes, that there may have been stimulii for the property market, none were forthcoming.”
Meanwhile, in a snap poll of 160 letting agents carried out by tenant referencing firm Goodlord, 75% of respondents said they didn’t think the Government understood the pressure facing the sector.
And a further 19% weren’t sure, with just 6% saying they thought the Government truly understood.
Cloud-based software system Alto has integrated data-driven management tool ViewMyChain into its Marketplace in a bid to help agents reduce their number of fall throughs.
The ViewMyChain platform is powered by data-led intelligence and gives agents greater visibility, responsiveness to changes and certainty in the sales process.
SPLIT CHAINS
It allows users to look at automatically constructed chains, including split chains, which can help achieve faster completions and reduce fall-throughs.
Ricardo Iannucci-Dawson, Alto
Riccardo Iannucci-Dawson, Alto Chief Operating Officer, says: “We are excited to partner with ViewMyChain to provide our customers with enhanced tools and capabilities with which to navigate the sales process.
“This integration reflects our commitment to empowering estate agents to have everything they need to run their agency, all in one place.”
Paul Halliwell, ViewMyChain
Paul Halliwell, ViewMyChain’s Executive Director, adds: “We are thrilled to join forces with Alto to improve the sales progression process, saving agents valuable time whilst delivering more certainty for all stakeholders.
“Together, we are empowering estate agents with the tools they need to succeed, especially during challenging market conditions when every sale matters.”
ZERO DEPOSIT
Alto’s latest integration comes after The Neg revealed last month how it had teamed up with Zero Deposit allowing agents to offer clients a regulated and automated deposit replacement service as well as helping to speed up end of tenancy admin tasks.
And we also revealed the details of its ‘next generation’ lettings progression functionality, which existing customers can access for free.
The feature speeds up and simplifies the onboarding of new tenants, enabling them to easily complete tasks such as signing documents, paying deposits and ensuring their details are up-to-date.
The Alto Marketplace is now integrated with almost 20 leading proptechs across a range of categories including Goodlord, Vouch, Fixflo and Bamboo Auctions.
Almost half of letting agents are feeling optimistic about the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools across the industry, research from Vouch and Goodlord reveals.
Just under half (45%) of letting agents think that AI tools such as ChatGPT will help them in the future with four out of 10 (39%) feeling neutral about the topic of AI, saying they neither agree nor disagree with the statement that ‘AI tools will prove beneficial going forward’.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Seven out of 10 (70%) agents said they believed lettings professionals were open to the adoption of new technology with six out of 10 (60%) believing that the lettings industry should use technology more to improve the customer experience.
However, the Vouch and Goodlord survey also revealed an education gap – especially around ‘renttech’ terms.
More than eight out of 10 (83%) agents said they weren’t familiar or were only somewhat familiar with the term ‘Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology’ – the process of converting an image of text – such as bank statements – into a format that is machine readable.
And only a quarter (24%) of agents were familiar with the term ‘Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT)’ – a way of authenticating documents which agencies have been allowed to do since 2022.
OPEN BANKING
The term that ranked highest for familiarity was ‘Open Banking’ – the technology used to safely verify income and confirm the financial security of prospective tenants – with just under half (46%) of agents familiar with only 16% unfamiliar.
Frankie Malpass, Vouch
Frankie Malpass, Product Lead at Vouch, says: “AI is here to stay – whether you’re using renttech providers that check IDs for facial recognition, writing marketing ads with the help of ChatGPT, or using AI-led tools to do 360-degree virtual tours.
“The trick for the future is how to use AI to your advantage.
“It’s therefore great to see just how many letting agents are feeling positive about the advent of everyday AI and are open to adopting new technologies.”