Online Agent Angst

Ah, the tale of online estate agents in the UK - a saga of digital dreams and dashed expectations. Once the darlings of disruption, these tech-savvy upstarts promised to revolutionise the property market. However, as we stand in 2025, the narrative has taken a rather sobering turn.

Our story begins in the heady days of 2014, when Purplebricks burst onto the scene with all the fanfare of a tech startup promising to change the world. With their sleek platforms and enticingly low fees, online agents seemed poised to give traditional high street firms a real run for their money. But despite the initial buzz, their early market share was a mere blip, hovering well under 2%.

Fast forward to 2016, and the tide was beginning to turn. Online agents captured around 3–4% of exchanges, with Purplebricks leading the charge . Their rapid growth - funded by some crazily excitable investors - was a clarion call to the industry; change was afoot.

By 2017, the online brigade had surged to a 6% market share, marking a 60% year-on-year increase. Yet, the high street agents, with their bricks-and-mortar resilience, still held a commanding 94% share. The digital Davids were making their presence felt, but the Goliaths remained largely unperturbed.

A pinnacle came in 2019, with online agents claiming 8.0-8.2% of the market. Purplebricks was the undisputed leader, accounting for around 4% all-told. Yet still the traditional firms, with their time-tested methods, maintained a robust 92% share.

Then came 2020, the year of the pandemic. Despite the chaos, online agents performed solidly with a 7-8% share, buoyed by the stamp duty holiday. In some regions, Purplebricks listed up to 10% of properties in the sub-£200k sector. It seemed the digital model had weathered the storm.

The post-pandemic world of 2021 brought a slight uptick, with market share reaching 8.3% by the third quarter. Online and hybrid agents made significant gains in London and higher price bands during the Covid era. Purplebricks and Yopa remained key players, with Strike joining the fray.

But the slide began in 2022. Market share for online agents started to decline, dropping to 7.4% by the second quarter and ending the year at 7.3%. While Purplebricks remained top in instructions, the hybrid model struggled in higher value brackets.

By late 2023, the decline was unmistakable. Market share had fallen to approximately 5.5%. Purplebricks, now part of Strike, saw its share plummet from a peak of 4.5% to 1.2%. Strike's share also dropped from 1.4% to 0.7%. Yopa, however, maintained a steady 0.7%. Meanwhile, self-employed agents emerged, capturing 1.2% of sales.

In the first quarter of 2024, the market share for hybrid and online agents has further declined to 5.2% of exchanges. They launched about 5% of new listings, down from 5.9% the previous year. The self-employed sub-model grew, accounting for 1.7% of all new listings, an 18% year-on-year increase.

And last week's numbers from TwentyCI paint an even grimmer picture for those who had once believed (and perhaps invested in the idea) that digital-only was inevitable - onliners are down to 2.1%, overtaken now by self-employed agents with 2.9%.

Online agents' influence is now largely confined to lower-priced segments, with continued decline across all price bands.

In the end, the tale of online agents is a cautionary one. The digital dream is not quite dead -but its zombification is almost complete. As the property landscape continues to shift, the resilience of traditional models and the adaptability of new entrants will be the keys to future success.