After working with clients along the Costa del Sol for the last 15 years, it is fair to say we have experienced our fair share of market changes and trends, both industry and buyer-wise! Although in the last 6 months, the market has changed rapidly, adapting to both external trends and the overall economic and international climate.
From a change in buyer persona to the change in marketing tactics and channels, the competition along the coast is more prominent than ever and since visiting with the team in March and more recently, July, it has definitely put in perspective for us the importance of establishing yourself as an agent both on and offline.
Throughout this article, we have comprised our most prominent insights from Q1/2 as well as our thoughts on the industry and how your agency should adapt to this.
At the start of the year, we saw Spain appear in Knight Frank’s Annual Attitudes Survey as one of the ‘Top Three’ chosen locations for the world’s wealthy to purchase homes. Not only this but Real Estate was identified as the TOP opportunity for both direct and indirect investment.
From speaking with agents and investors along the coast, this is definitely a trend that we have seen play out in the first 6 months of 2023. A change in buyer persona has also definitely occurred in the last 6 months, both ourselves and the agents we work with are seeing an increase in demand for higher-end properties.
With high-end ‘New Development’ properties proving to be a huge source of income and business for many agents, and there are definitely no red flags to say that this will be decreasing any time soon.
We know that the target audience of people having 1 million+ to invest in a property is significantly lower than those who have between 200-400 thousand although in the last 6 months, the comparison between the both has definitely become smaller.
After speaking to one of our clients last week, we identified that this year his average turnaround time from lead to sale has decreased massively, currently standing at a 2-month turnaround time. It has been interesting to see the urgency difference between those looking to purchase a resale property in comparison to those looking to purchase a new development property.
In the past, we have seen many agents solely rely on property portals to be their main source of leads, and although the leads do come in, the prospect landed there via another platform and not their own agencies’ presence.
When looking to grow your agency or expand on the quality and quantity of leads coming in, focusing on investing in your own agency and online presence is key.
Whenever a new agent comes on board for either a new website or marketing we always advise focusing on investing in their presence to get the ball rolling, ways this can be done:
What separates you from your competition? Your approach? Your services? Or You?
At the end of the day, people buy from people. From the very first follow-up to the day the contract is signed, your agency is leaving a lasting impression on your client and ultimately will make or break whether they purchase and then evidently return to you in the future.
Gaining feedback and insights into how agents are finding things is something we speak about day in and day out. Not only does this help optimise our services and way of working but this allows us to provide valuable insights into agents along the coast and internationally who may not be as up to date.
One of the more prominent talking points was that of property portals… Whilst, as always, there were mixed results, the more prominent solution we are seeing is agents utilising segmentation.
Based on their agency, target audience and overall goals, more agents are realising the importance of segmenting their feed. By being much more selective in the properties they are uploading to their site, not only are agents providing a much more tailored and personalised approach to their website and ultimately target audience, but agents are seeing a much higher quality of leads and also overall engagement on their site.
The key takeaway: if your agency has not maybe seen the desired return you were hoping for in the past with property portals, take a deep dive into the exact properties you are looking to sell and harness the power of segmentation. The untapped potential of property portals is something we believe is definitely going to come to fruition in Q3/4.
Buyers agents, a topic that is coming up more and more within the industry, with more agents than ever focusing on gaining exclusive listings, becoming a ‘Buyers agent’ is an extremely important tactic, especially for the higher end of the property market.
If you are new to the topic, think of it this way; a seller will reach out to an individual Agent and list their property via them. This agent who, for example, has had over 10 years of experience within the market and has built up a great network of HNW individuals will then reach out and offer the property and spread the word of the opportunity. This is a great way to reach a more specific and higher-end audience, especially for properties over the €5 million mark.
The question at the top of everyone’s list, geographical targeting, this is one of the main questions we are asked from agencies day in and day out and something we have years of experience in!
Being reactive to the market is key but also knowing your audience and who you want to target is vital when positioning your agency amongst the competition.
From Brexit to the increase in the cost of living, these are just two of the common topics of conversation when it comes to agents choosing the locations they wish to target. More recently the topic of conversation has been the Mortgage Rate increase in Sweden, and the impact this is having on agents that rely on and specialise in the Swedish market.
Not only does the increase result in a much less valuable proposition for Swedish buyers looking to purchase property along the coast, but it also makes it a worse opportunity and harder to come by.
Something we have seen increasing over the last 6 months is the number of agents breaking off from their traditional agencies and going solo.
Linking back to our ‘Buyers Agent’ topic, we are seeing more individual agents branching off and becoming individual brokers. So much so we have devised a dedicated website solution to complement this.
Our Exclusive ‘BrokerOnly’ Solution
Your personal brand is something that you can always rely upon and is not something that can be taken away from you. Agents are now more than ever releasing the importance of this and starting to invest in their personal brand.
So, why should you start caring about your personal brand?
With the Real Estate industry and current affairs across the globe changing each day, we understand that it is hard to stay up to date, although here at Property Webmasters we pride ourselves in being experts and pioneers within the PropTech industry. For a tailored approach to how YOUR agency can dominate the current market, contact us today!
