So much for online agents - High Street firms are booming

New data shows that online agents have failed in their bid to replace traditional agencies - and that there are more firms on the High Street now than ever before.

Comparison site GetAgent has found the number of agencies operating within each postcode in England. Most, but not all, will have physical offices.

On average there are no fewer than 66 agencies in each postcode.

The competition amongst London estate agents is at its fiercest in Canary Wharf’s E14 postcode, where there are no less than 481 estate agent branches fighting it out.  The prime London postcodes of SW1 - Westminster - and W2 - Bayswater - are home to the next highest intensity with 470 and 464 respectively. 

Battersea’s SW11 postcode also makes the top five with 427 branches, with the E1 postcode, again in Tower Hamlets, home to 407 estate agent branches. 

Outside of the capital, the SL1 postcode of Slough in Buckinghamshire sits top when it comes to estate agent competition, with 224 branches registered. Brighton’s BN2 follows with 217 registered branches, with Ascot and Maidenhead’s SL6, (203), Oadby’s LE2 in Leicester (199) and BN1 in Brighton (199) completing the top five.

The full table can be seen here.

GetAgent chief executive Mal McCallion says: “The bricks and mortar estate agent branch is alive and well, despite many and frequent false prophecies that the rise of the online agent would bring about its extinction.

“In fact, we’ve seen quite the opposite and competition is even more fierce across many of the nation’s postcodes.

“Online portals and an almost universal propensity to house hunt on the internet have not killed the traditional estate agent, as many predicted. In fact, this technological innovation has actually allowed quality estate agents to cast their nets even further afield, listing homes in surrounding areas where their brand and local expertise still resonates.”