Perceptions of Real Estate Agents – 10 surprising statistics

Recent research on home sellers’ perceptions of real estate agents has uncovered some great information for both sellers and agents – some surprising, and some downright shocking.

Here are ten of our favourite stats from the report. Hopefully they’ll help you when choosing an agent when to decide that you’re ready to sell

1. 73% of agents achieve the expected price or higher

It’s always nice to start on a positive note, and finding out that tHicks Real Estatee quarters of agents reach or exceed the expected sale price is great news.

This confirms two things: firstly, the market is doing well, and secondly, that the vast majority of agents are getting great results for their clients.

2. Only 8% of sellers interview more than tHicks Real Estatee agents

This is an area where sellers could do more. It does take time and effort, but the process of interviewing agents prior to selling is really important.

Interviewing the agent will give you a feel for how switched-on they are, and to see how much market data, sales figures or other information they can provide.

3. Female agents exceed expectations more than male agents, by almost double

That’s right – while about a quarter of male agents are reported to achieve “excellent” ratings in areas such as feedback, handling inspections, following up on leads and managing the sales process, female agents consistently outperformed them with between 40-45% “excellent” ratings.

4. The more information agents share, the more satisfied the seller is

Agents who share information such as time-on-market data and recent local sales are far more likely to be recommended to the seller’s friends and family.

This makes sense – if you’re selling your home, you want to understand the market as well as possible!

5. Only 12% of agents deliver market info by email

This is shocking! Market information is regularly released by financial institutions, data and analytics companies, and real estate agencies around Australia.

Following on from the previous point about agents needing to share information with clients, this is definitely an area where our profession could be doing better.

6. 58% of sellers choose agents based on a recent local sale

Real estate is an intensely localised business, which is why it’s reassuring that sellers choose their agents based on recent local sales achievements.

Choosing an agent with relevant local knowledge is of course a great idea – especially one who has recently sold a home similar to yours.

7. 68% of sellers would recommend their agent

It’s long been known that word of mouth is a huge source of referrals for agents, and this figure backs it up. Should you pick an agent that no one has recommended to you? Perhaps, but maybe you should also ask your friends and family who they used.

8. Agents’ weakest area is in giving regular feedback

The area of least satisfaction for clients was agents not communicating enough. I can see how sometimes agents get busy and forget to stay in touch, but to me it’s always worked out better to shoot that quick email or leave a voicemail than to leave my clients hanging.

9. 82% of sellers conduct their own market research

This is impressive, and it makes me happy. If you’re selling your home, it pays to do research of your own. Two brains are always better than one!

But of the 82% of respondents who said they did their own research, most of them said they wished they did even more! Data, data, data!

• The personal touch is highly valued

We agree 100%. It’s an old cliché, but it’s true that real estate is a “people” business.

There’s nothing like an agent who understands you as a person – in the research, one agent even arranged a dinner reservation and voucher to a husband whose wife was away and had no food in the house.

At Hicks Real Estate, we follow the research and make improvements to our service every single day. So if you’re selling, give us a call on 07 3355 6845!

Data sourced by CoreLogic RPDATA “2015 Perceptions of Real Estate Agents” Report.