Agents are using AI for listings but rarely to improve sales

Two thirds of estate agents use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to write property descriptions but wider usage remains low, research suggests.

A survey of 250 estate and letting agents by customer relationship management platform Alto found 69% use AI regularly or every day.

But 85% use it for four jobs or less, and they’re the same four everywhere – that is writing property descriptions at 67%, emails at 53%, admin at 37% and marketing and social media at 35%.

Beyond those four jobs, use falls off a cliff.

It’s the same tool doing the same job for every agent on the high street.”

Only one in 10 agents use AI to prepare a valuation. One in 20 use it for anti-money laundering and compliance checks.

In addition, only 4% – one agent in 25 – use it for sales progression, the months of chasing solicitors, surveys and mortgage offers between an offer being accepted and the keys changing hands.

This suggests AI is being used to make the advert sound better, and almost never to get the sale done, Alto claims.

Sales progression

A fifth of agents do use AI right across the business to answer enquiries out of hours, spot homeowners about to sell, keep compliance paperwork in order and track how the agency is performing.

The research also highlights that agents aren’t blind to the risks of AI. A total of 76% worry AI will cost them the personal touch with clients and 64% worry about it making mistakes.

Even so, half expect to spend more on AI in the next 12 months.

Riccardo Iannucci-Dawson (pictured), Chief Executive of Alto, says: “Most estate agents have discovered AI the same way the rest of us did, idying up emails and marketing copy.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s the same tool doing the same job for every agent on the high street, so nobody gets ahead with it, and it’s not going to help you sell your home faster.

“The fifth who are pulling away have pointed it at the bits that actually decide whether your sale goes through: answering enquiries at 9pm, chasing solicitors, keeping the paperwork and compliance in order.”

The post Agents are using AI for listings but rarely to improve sales appeared first on The Negotiator.

Author: Gemma