Declining trust in estate agents is driving younger home sellers to take matters into their own hands, according to new research by Upstix.
It reveals fewer than half of 18-34-year-olds trust estate agents to give them an accurate valuation of their home, compared to 65% of 35-54-year-olds and nearly three quarters of those over 55.
This emerging ‘Sell-It-Yourself Generation’ is embracing technology, and their personal connections, to help them move on – and up – the housing ladder, according to the survey of 4,000 UK adults.
Nearly a third (30%) of the 18-34-year-old sellers surveyed sold their home to people they knew or advertised it directly. Meanwhile, more than one in ten (11%) turned to an online ibuyer, like Upstix, to sell their home quickly for cash.
The findings show that just over half (59%) of younger sellers chose the traditional agent route to find their buyer, compared to 83% of 35-54-year-olds and 90% of over 55s.
PAINFULLY SLOW AND COMPLICATED
Frederick Jones, Chief Executive of Upstix, says: “Younger generations are generally the fastest to adopt new technologies to improve other areas of their lives, so why not the home selling process, which as anyone who has gone through it knows can be painfully slow and complicated.
“Technology also brings with it the promise of greater transparency around a high-value transaction that sellers can find unnervingly opaque.
“It’s telling that while trust in agents is in decline, one in three of the younger sellers we surveyed said they’d trust technology to value to their home accurately – either an online valuation tool or ibuyer like ourselves.”
The Upstix survey reveals some of the factors that could be contributing to diminishing trust in agents.
A quarter of younger sellers (25%) who chose to use estate agents found they didn’t match up to expectations: 12% felt their agent over-promised and under-delivered, while 13% said they held up their home sale by setting the valuation too high.
