New real estate agencies: where they open, who sells to them

How many new agencies open, and where?

Our database holds 733,910 real estate records in the United States — agents, brokerages, property consultants and rental agencies — and 29,233 in the United Kingdom, where they are estate agents and letting agents. In the 30 days, 8,004 and 226 new ones arrived: 10.9 and 7.7 for every 1,000 records already there. Across all businesses the same rates were 13.8 and 11.5, so in both countries real estate records arrived more slowly than the average.

Among the 12 US cities with the most real estate records, New York (35), Houston (18) and Chicago (16) received the most new ones. The city counts look small next to the national figure for two reasons: a city row counts only records whose address names that city — not its suburbs or the rest of the metro area — and part of the new records do not carry a city yet. So read the rows against each other. Los Angeles has nearly as many real estate records as Houston (4,812 and 4,980) but received 9 new ones to Houston’s 18; relative to its stock, Austin received the most, 5.2 new records per 1,000. Scottsdale, Arizona, with 2,235 records, has more than Atlanta or Philadelphia, and New York, the largest, has the lowest phone (93.0%) and website (65.4%) shares of the 12. State pages show all sectors together: New York State, Texas, Arizona. National figures: real estate agencies in the United States.

In the United Kingdom, London received 9 new real estate records; every other city in the table had fewer than five. London here is the London locality within Greater London, and it holds 4,538 real estate records, more than 9 times Birmingham’s 470; Ilford, listed on its own, is also in Greater London. With numbers this small, the table is more useful for its shares: website information ranges from 84.8% in Brighton and Hove to 61.3% in Ilford, which also has the highest share with a phone but no website information (35.6%). County view: Greater London; national figures: estate agents in the United Kingdom.

Six markets compared

Measured against the records already there, real estate records arrived faster than the average business only in France (12.7 new per 1,000, against 9.8 across all businesses). In Spain the two rates were within 5% of each other; in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Türkiye real estate was slower — in Türkiye at about half the all-business rate. The United States alone accounts for 38.9% of the 20,575 new real estate records across the 35 countries. A record is dated by when it reaches us, not by an opening date, so these rates compare arrivals, not openings.

How reachable are new agencies?

In five of the six markets, real estate records carry a phone number and website information more often than the average business. Türkiye is the exception on both counts: its phone share is close to the national one (68.3% and 67.6%) and website information is lower (25.7% against 27.9%). In the United States, 191,434 real estate records (26.1%) have a phone but no website information; in the United Kingdom, 4,765 (16.3%), the smallest share of the six. The largest is Türkiye’s, at 44.9%.

For a vendor that means two lists. Agencies with website information are a market for listing software, media and training; those without it are the web designer’s list. Most records carry a number, and the address and coordinates put offices on a route — where several agencies share a high street, one visit covers them. Rules on unsolicited calls and messages differ by country and channel, and the obligation lies with the sender; check them with your own counsel before a campaign.

What does a new agency buy, and when?

These are the decisions on the table in the weeks around opening. What an agency still needs depends on whether it is an independent office, a franchise branch or an agent working alone, so the first conversation should establish which.

Before the doors open: the office

• Fit-out and furniture: desks, a room for valuations and signings, storage for keys and files.
• Fascia and window: the sign above the door, window displays or screens for listings, vinyl graphics — all of which have to be ordered before the opening date (see signage and print leads).
• Phones: a business number, forwarding to agents’ mobiles and, for an agency that wants to know which advert brought a call, a separate number per channel (see telecom sales to new businesses).
• Insurance: premises and contents, public liability and professional cover — errors and omissions in the US, professional indemnity in the UK (see commercial insurance leads).

Before the first listing: software

A CRM and listing system: contacts, properties, viewings, offers, feeds to the listing portals and, for letting agents, tenancies and maintenance. Moving contacts and properties to another system later costs time, so this is a decision to win before the first property goes in. A franchise branch may get its software, branding and training through the network; photography, furniture, phones and local print can still be bought locally. Ask which applies.

With every new listing: media and boards

Photography, floor plans, 3D and virtual tours, drone shots, for-sale and to-let boards (yard signs in the US), printed brochures. This work comes back with every property the agency takes on, so the account grows with its stock: the first job is worth less than the relationship.

After the first months

Training (valuation, negotiation, the software itself), bookkeeping, a website or a better one — see how to get web design clients — and a second look at whatever was bought in a hurry before opening.

Working a daily list

1. Read the record before the call: the name and category tell an agency office from an individual agent or consultant; website information shows whether there is a site to improve or none at all; opening hours, where published, tell you when someone is in.
2. Check repeated names: one business can have several records. The same brand on several new records may be a franchise network or a group opening branches; ask whether the branch or a head office does the buying.
3. Match the offer to the stage: a record is dated by the day it reached us, not by the opening day. An office still being fitted out needs signs and furniture; one that already trades needs media for its next listings.
4. Route by district: coordinates turn the day’s new records into a route for a rep or a photographer.
5. Keep the record ID: exports carry a stable ID per record, so notes from the call stay attached when you export again.

For the first call itself, see a cold call script for new businesses.

The search in the panel

1. Category: real estate agent, real estate agency, real estate consultant, commercial and industrial real estate agency, real estate rental agency; in the UK, estate agent. Each record keeps its own category and categories are chosen one by one, so a lettings software vendor can take rental agencies only and a commercial photographer the commercial agencies.
2. Area: city and district; coordinates for the route.
3. Time: arrived in the newly opened businesses section in the last 30 days.
4. Channel: phone number on record for a call team; “no website information” if you sell websites.
5. Watch: save the search and new matches arrive by email every day.

Searching and counting are free on every plan, so you can see how many new agencies your territory had this month before you spend a credit (pricing). A credit is spent the first time you open a record’s details, and an export counts as opening; one credit opens one newly opened business or five established ones, and a record you have opened never costs again. Exports are CSV or XLSX. A record carries name, category, address, city, district, phone, web address, coordinates and, where available, opening hours; there is no email column and no named-person column.

All 35 countries

For reference, the same figures for every country we measure: