Homes sold without an agent make up only 1 percent of Australia's property market: research
According to the research, for sale by owner has similar market penetration in the UK as in Australia. Of the 1.2 million properties sold in the UK every year, just 10,000 are sold by owners who don’t use agents. That’s less than one percent of all property sales.
This suggests that unless a disruptor arrives and turns the entire property industry on its head, Australia’s for sale by owner market isn’t about to change. It hasn’t happened in the UK, and it’s unlikely to happen here.
Other key findings include:
- Half of the for sale by owner websites analysed had sold fewer than 200 properties in the past year
- For sale by owner websites sold an extra 300 properties this year compared to last, but that growth dwarfs when compared to the thousands of homes sold every year by agents.
For the research, Which Real Estate Agent examined sales data for 12 for sale by owner websites to see how many properties sold in the last 12 months (December 2014 to November 2015), and in the 12 months before that (December 2013 to November 2014).
To derive sale numbers, they counted the number of sales listed on each website’s agency profile on realestate.com.au.
While hiring an agent will cost you, it is probably better to hire one if you are not experienced in the property market. There's also the downside risk of selling for a lower price than what you could have achieved with an agent.
The full article can be found here.