UK-Wide: A Buying Agents Overview

For all the technological change in residential property over the past two decades, buying a home in the UK remains a surprisingly opaque process. Buyers have access to more information than ever before, yet access to information is not the same as access to the market – nor does it necessarily make the process easier to navigate.

The government’s own assessment is revealing. Once an offer has been accepted, the average property transaction takes around 120 days to complete – approximately 60% longer than it did in 2007. Around one in three transactions falls through, at an estimated cost to buyers and sellers of GBP400 million each year.

These are striking statistics for a market in which a home is, for most people, the largest purchase they will ever make. They also point to a wider issue: despite enormous advances in technology and the availability of property data, the process itself has arguably become harder for buyers to navigate.

A More Fragmented Market

I started my firm in 2007, coincidentally the year against which the government now measures that 60% increase in transaction times. The market I encountered then looked very different from the one buyers face today.

There were fewer selling agents and relationships were easier to map. In many locations, an experienced buyer could reasonably understand which firms controlled the majority of relevant stock and therefore whom to call.

Today, the landscape is far more fragmented. Alongside the established estate agencies are independents, boutiques, self-employed agents, brokers, private offices and individuals operating through personal networks. Properties can be marketed by more than one intermediary and sometimes pass through several sets of hands without ever appearing on a property portal.

For buyers, particularly at the upper end of the market, simply knowing who to speak to has therefore become an increasingly important part of the search.

The Market You Cannot See

Property portals have transformed the way people search for homes, but they can also create the impression that the market is more transparent than it really is.

In prime markets, a meaningful proportion of properties change hands without ever being openly advertised. Some are sold entirely off market; others are shown discreetly to a small number of buyers before being launched publicly. According to our firm’s 2025 transaction data, 73% of the properties we acquired that year were not openly marketed.

That figure should not be taken as representative of the UK market as a whole, but it illustrates an important feature of the prime residential market: relying solely on publicly available listings can mean seeing only part of the opportunity set.

There are understandable reasons for this. Privacy is important to many sellers, particularly where the property, owner or circumstances are sensitive. Others want to test demand without leaving a digital footprint or simply prefer a controlled sale to a small pool of credible purchasers.

For buyers, however, it creates an obvious problem: how do you find something that is not advertised?

Increasingly, the answer lies in market coverage – knowing which agents, brokers and advisers are active in a particular area and maintaining sufficient relationships to hear about opportunities before, or without, a public launch.

Information is Not the Same as Transparency

Even where a property is openly marketed, buyers may not have all the information they need at the outset.

The government has identified this as one of the fundamental weaknesses of the current system. Data cited by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government suggests that only around 35% of property listings contain adequate information, while approximately 10% do not contain even basic information such as tenure and relevant costs.

Important matters – from service charges and tenure to planning issues or defects – can therefore emerge only after an offer has been accepted and the buyer has committed considerable time and money to the transaction.

This is one reason the government is pursuing reforms intended to make more information available upfront through measures including property sales packs, digital property information and improved standards for listings.

Greater transparency should undoubtedly help. But information still needs to be interpreted. An asking price, for example, means relatively little without an understanding of comparable transactions, the seller’s circumstances, competing demand and the individual strengths and weaknesses of a property.

Who Represents the Buyer?

There is another structural feature of the UK market that overseas buyers in particular can find surprising.

Estate agents are subject to legislation, consumer protection requirements, anti-money laundering obligations and redress arrangements, but they are not currently required by law to hold a licence or particular professional qualification in order to practise.

That may change. As part of its reforms, the government has proposed a new Code of Practice for property agents and intends to consult on mandatory qualifications, with the stated aim of improving competence and accountability across the sector.

For buyers, however, the practical issue is not simply one of qualifications. It is understanding representation.

A traditional estate agent is instructed by the seller and acts for the seller. A buyer may spend weeks or months dealing with that agent and receive an excellent service, but the agent’s client remains the vendor.

That distinction becomes particularly important when negotiating price, assessing competing interest or deciding how much to disclose about a buyer’s budget, motivation and circumstances.

The Rise of the Broker

The emergence of the residential property broker has added another layer to the market.

An individual or firm may introduce buyers to properties, introduce sellers to purchasers, or operate on both sides of the market. This has created additional routes through which properties can be bought and sold, which can be valuable, but it also makes it increasingly important for consumers to establish exactly whom an adviser represents and how they are being remunerated.

The distinction between a selling agent and a buying agent is fundamentally one of alignment. A selling agent is instructed to achieve the best outcome for the seller. A buying agent is retained by the purchaser to identify opportunities, assess them and negotiate on the buyer’s behalf.

Where an intermediary undertakes both buying and selling work, a buyer should understand whether that intermediary has any relationship with the seller, whether a fee or commission is being received from another party and how any potential conflict is managed.

Transparency over incentives is every bit as important as transparency over property.

More Information, More Complexity

There is a paradox at the heart of today’s property market. Buyers have never had more information at their fingertips. They can research historic transactions, planning applications, local amenities and individual streets from anywhere in the world. Yet the government’s own statistics suggest that the process has become slower rather than faster.

Technology has solved some problems while the structure of the market has created others. Publicly available stock represents only part of the picture in some sectors; the number and variety of intermediaries has increased; important property information is not always available at the outset; and it may not immediately be apparent where interests and incentives lie.

The most useful questions for a buyer are therefore often the simplest. Am I seeing the whole market? Who is representing the seller? Who is representing me? How is everyone involved being paid? And do I have sufficient independent information to make an informed decision?

The government’s proposed reforms – better upfront information, greater digitalisation and higher professional standards – should make the process more transparent. But even a more transparent market will not remove the distinction between having access to information and having someone whose interests are unequivocally aligned with your own.

In an increasingly fragmented UK residential market, understanding that distinction has arguably never been more important.