The Property Market Has Shifted — Are Estate Agents Ready?
For much of the past decade, estate agents enjoyed something of a golden era. Properties flew off the shelf, buyers competed fiercely against one another, and a listing on Rightmove practically sold itself. But the landscape has changed considerably. Buyers are back in charge, and they are approaching the market with far greater caution and price sensitivity than we have seen in years. For estate agents who have grown comfortable waiting passively for Rightmove enquiries to roll in, this new environment poses a serious challenge — and a serious opportunity for those willing to evolve.
The agents who will thrive in this shifting market are not the ones with the flashiest portal listings or the biggest advertising budgets. They are the ones who understand human behaviour, build genuine relationships, and take a proactive approach to generating leads long before a buyer ever types a postcode into a search bar.
Understanding the Cautious, Price-Sensitive Buyer of Today
Today's property buyer is a fundamentally different creature from the one agents encountered during the pandemic-era boom. Rising interest rates, the lingering effects of inflation, and broader economic uncertainty have combined to make buyers far more deliberate and discerning. They are taking longer to make decisions, scrutinising asking prices with far greater rigour, and walking away from properties that feel even slightly overpriced for what they offer.
This is not a temporary blip. It represents a structural recalibration of buyer psychology. People are acutely aware of what their mortgage will actually cost them each month. They are comparing not just properties but entire lifestyle propositions. And they are no longer afraid to wait, negotiate hard, or simply step back from the market altogether if the right opportunity does not present itself.
For estate agents, this means that the volume of motivated, ready-to-act buyers that portals can deliver has meaningfully decreased. The leads that do come through Rightmove or Zoopla are often at an earlier, more exploratory stage of the buying journey than they were two or three years ago. Treating every portal enquiry as a hot lead is a recipe for wasted time and missed targets.
Why Waiting for Rightmove Leads Is a Losing Strategy
Property portals remain an essential part of the marketing mix, and no serious agent would suggest abandoning them. But leaning on them as a primary or sole source of buyer leads in the current climate is a fundamentally passive strategy in a market that demands activity.
When the market was running hot, sellers would choose their agent almost at random and buyers would find the property regardless of how proactive the agent was. That dynamic no longer holds. Sellers today are more considered in choosing who represents them, and they are watching closely to see how many qualified buyers their agent can actually introduce — not just how many people view the listing online.
Agents who rely heavily on portal traffic are also surrendering control of one of the most important variables in their business: the quality of buyer relationships. A buyer who enquires via a portal is, by definition, someone who has already been browsing independently. An agent who identifies and nurtures that buyer weeks or months before they formally enter the market has an enormous competitive advantage — and that is simply not something a portal algorithm can replicate.
What the Best Estate Agents Are Doing Differently
The most effective agents operating in today's market share a common set of behaviours that set them apart from those still waiting for their inbox to do the work for them.
Building and Maintaining a Qualified Buyer Database
Top-performing agents invest seriously in maintaining a live, regularly updated database of buyers who are genuinely in the market. They make a point of speaking regularly with registered applicants — not just sending automated email alerts — and they develop a nuanced understanding of each buyer's priorities, timeline, and financial position. When the right property comes along, they are calling the right people before the board even goes up.
Matching Before Marketing
Rather than simply launching a property onto the portals and waiting, forward-thinking agents work their buyer database first. This pre-launch approach creates urgency, rewards loyal buyers, and often results in faster sales at stronger prices — a compelling proposition for vendors who are increasingly nervous about their property sitting unsold on Rightmove for weeks.
Community and Referral Networks
The best agents are visible members of their local communities. They cultivate relationships with solicitors, financial advisers, developers, and other local professionals who can refer motivated buyers and sellers. Word of mouth, local reputation, and trusted professional networks deliver a quality of lead that no portal can match.
Social Media and Content Marketing
Agents who create genuinely useful, locally relevant content — whether through video, social media, or regular market updates — attract buyers who are doing their research and who come to those agents with a degree of pre-existing trust. This is a longer game, but it produces relationships rather than transactions.
Adapting Your Agency for a Buyers' Market
The shift in power toward buyers does not have to be a threat to estate agent performance. In fact, it can be a catalyst for meaningful improvement in how agencies operate and how they differentiate themselves from the competition. Agents who take this moment to invest in their buyer relationships, sharpen their pricing advice to vendors, and develop proactive lead generation strategies will find themselves far better positioned — not just for today's market, but for whatever conditions the next cycle brings.
The portals are a tool. The best agents are the ones who never forgot that the real asset was always the relationship — and who kept building them even when waiting for Rightmove was easier.