Estate agents are embracing AI for property descriptions and communications but adoption drops sharply when the technology moves into core agency processes such as sales progression, compliance and prospecting.
Research from Alto found 69% of estate and letting agents now use AI regularly or every day, although 85% use it in four areas or fewer.
Property descriptions are the most common application, used by 67%, followed by emails and general communications at 53%, administration at 37% and marketing and social media at 35%.
But just 11% use AI for prospecting, 10% for valuation preparation, 5% for compliance and 4% for sales progression. The findings are based on a survey of 250 estate and letting agents.
BEYOND WRITING
Alto’s research suggests a smaller group of agencies is beginning to move AI beyond writing and administrative tasks.
Agents using AI primarily for writing and administration report saving around 1.3 hours per week per user, compared with 3.8 hours among those using it in two or more operational areas.
The 20% identified by Alto as the most advanced users report saving around five hours per week.
Agency size appears to have little bearing on membership of this group, with half operating from a single branch, 35% running between two and five branches and 15% operating six or more.
Leadership may have a greater association with adoption. Some 60% of the most advanced group say their use of AI resulted from a leadership decision, compared with 24% among the bottom half.
Across the wider survey, however, 46% say employees are using AI on their own initiative, while 14% say nobody is driving its adoption.
BACK-OFFICE PRIORITIES
The areas agents expect AI to influence next also appear to be changing.
Some 58% identify administration as an area where AI could make the biggest difference in 2027, followed by lead response and qualification at 39%, listing creation at 38%, compliance and certificates at 36% and prospecting at 32%.
Compliance shows one of the largest gaps between current use and future expectations, with just 5% using AI for it today compared with 36% identifying it as a priority for next year.
Half of respondents expect their spending on AI to increase during the next 12 months, while none expect it to fall.
However, 76% are concerned about AI reducing the personal touch with clients and 64% have concerns about accuracy.
“The agencies that decide now where AI fits will spend next year pulling further ahead.”
Alto Chief Executive Officer Riccardo Iannucci-Dawson (main picture) says: “The comfortable reading of this data is that everyone’s at roughly the same early stage with AI, so there’s time.
“I don’t think that’s the case. A fifth of agents have already built a measurable advantage, and it isn’t because they’re bigger or have more budget. Someone at the top decided where AI would be used and gave the team a system that could do it.
“Writing a better property description is useful, but every agent on the high street can do that with the same tool for the same money, so it isn’t an advantage. The return is in the jobs below the cliff: answering enquiries at 9:00pm, chasing certificates, automating compliance, keeping progression moving.
“2027 is the year this stops being an experiment. The agencies that decide now where AI fits will spend next year pulling further ahead, and the longer the rest wait, the more ground there is to make up. The first step costs nothing: find out what the software you already pay for can do.”
