The Evolution of Estate Agency & Property Marketing Methods
The Evolution of Estate Agency & Property Marketing Methods
How we bought and sold property looked radically different up until the late 19th century. The market was dominated by landed gentry and nobility, who passed property estates on to heirs, with all others resigned to renting. If you had a property career, you probably worked in auctions, estate management, chartered surveying, valuations or land, with the concept of modern estate agency in its very infancy.
Early Roots (Pre-20th Century)
Census data from the 1800 illustrated the Industrial Revolution’s impact on major cities, including London, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. With better logistics, millions more people in urban areas and new wealth came more properties – and a need to buy and sell.
Many auction houses and land managers added property sales to their services, some calling themselves ‘house agents’ as well as ‘estate agents’. The first estate agency offices opened in the early 19th century, with brands including Chesterton, Felicity J Lord, Chancellors, Winkworth, Humberts, Savills, Hamptons and Jackson-Stops starting to gain traction in property sales.
Without Rightmove or the internet, estate agents relied on a combination of marketing tactics – shop fronts, word of mouth, business networking and advertising – but as an 1897 advert in Country Life magazine attested, country piles remained the currency of the day.
The Victorian era also witnessed the invention of the first ‘for sale’ board, with modest, hand painted wooden signs placed unobtrusively outside properties.
The Rise of the High Street Agent (Early – Mid 20th Century)
It wasn’t until the early 20th century when estate agency offices turned into the branded branches we know today. A fascinating photograph of Chesterton & Sons’ corner office on Kensington High Street in 1924 showed posters in every window, with an industry starting to harness visual promotion.
The interwar and post-war housebuilding frenzy saw estate agency really take off. Regional branches started opening across the UK, their windows full of small cards advertising available homes. Newspapers and magazines were also crammed full of full-page and classified adverts, promoting the very best flats, chambers and houses for sale and to rent. For sale signs also became bolder, thanks to new advancements in manufacturing and printing.
House builders went the extra mile and ventured into filmed adverts. The BFI archive holds this wonderful 20-minute cine advert produced by Davis Estates, extolling the virtues of its newly built homes.
The Boom Years & Brand Growth (1970s–1990s)
The desire to be a homeowner peaked in the latter part of the 20th century. The Thatcher ‘yuppie’ years injected ‘new money’ into the landscape, bolstered by the ‘right to buy’ scheme.
With the boom came a new crop of estate agency names – Foxtons, Northfields, Countrywide and Your Move, to a name a few. Heightened competition and new technology pushed estate agents out of their comfort zone. While window displays were still critical (you could barely see into each office for the amount of posters), fax machines, mobile telephones and huge desktop computers profoundly impacted how agents found customers and progressed transactions.
Printing advancements also shaped the latter part of the 20th century. Black and white property flyers that featured just one photograph were replaced by colour details that contained an image of every room. ‘For sale’ boards were mass produced in bright – even neon – colours, making them the essential marketing tool outside every home. Despite advancements, placing adverts in local newspapers remained a crucial marketing tool but that was all about to change.
The Digital Disruption (2000s)
A small thing called the ‘internet’ would prove to be property’s Digital Revolution. A little-known brand called Rightmove launched its website in July 2000 and the rest, as they say, is history. Zoopla followed in 2008 and OnTheMarket in 2013 (under its former guise of Agents’ Mutual), transforming home mover behaviour. Consumers visited Rightmove 2.3 billion times in 2024, cementing our rapid adoption of digital property searches.
The 2000s also saw the first crop of online-only estate agents emerge, with HouseNetwork, Hatched, Housesimple, Tepilo, eMoov, Purplebricks and Yopa all launching between 2003 and 2015.
This shift towards online activity prompted High Street agents to invest in their own websites and internet presence. Agents soon needed to show up on social media sites including Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006) and Instagram (2010), with advertising in paper media dwindling.
The High Street branch and ‘for sale’ board remained vital assets. The latter became an issue, however, and their acute saturation of streets led to boards becoming regulated by the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007.
Digital elements started creeping into physical assets, however, with branches using TV screens to display marketing message and QR codes appearing on boards.
In 2001, Foxtons introduced its first – and much copied – fleet of branded Minis, heralding a new era of ‘brand-led’ agencies. Logos, colours and liveries became more important in a crowded marketplace.
Today’s landscape
Read any of the estate agency trade media and every other headline is about AI. Agents are already using chatbots to automatically onboard clients, analyse huge data sets to predict moving behaviour and price patterns, write property listings and create voice-guided property tours. As such, the role of the estate agent is changing quickly.
RIP Rightmove?
There’s also a rumour that the days of property portals are numbered. That’s right, some are even trumpeting the death of Rightmove and it’s also thanks to AI. ChatGPT and co. have muscled in on the property search game using its powerful web crawling ability.
Give it the prompt ‘find me a 3 bedroom house for sale in Tunbridge Wells’ and not only will it give you direct links to listings from the big three portals all in one place, it will also take you to relevant properties on agents’ own websites.
Also away from the portals are a new breed of property influencers – high calibre agents, freelancers and search professionals who have turned presenter. Their well-produced property tours, in the form of hosted and slickly-produced videos, are some of the most-watched content online, especially on Instagram and TikTok. Tours are not just for million pound properties either, with younger home movers expecting video content no matter their buying or renting budget.
As well as updating window displays and ordering ‘for sale’ signs (yes, they still have a place), agents are having to pay attention to their digital marketing strategy. SEO, Google, visibility, reach, engagement and now Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) are the buzz words, with ever-changing algorithms to negotiate.
Viewber loves delving into the history of the property industry and learning about modern methods of operation so we can best shape our services. Contact us if you’d like to know about our property visit and viewing services.
