FSE Glasgow: Estate agents face challenge to keep market moving

Estate agents face a challenge to keep the market fluid with the prominence of on-line estate agencies slowing down the speculative listing of properties, Robert Sinclair of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has warned.

The AMI chief executive said the rise of on-line property portals has made it more difficult for estate agents to encourage people to list their homes - thus removing some of the liquidity from the market.

He said: "Five years ago you would have to march up and down the high street as a potential purchaser going into any number of estate agencies.

"However this is no longer the case and most people just look at properties on the web and this has removed the opportunity to convinced someone to list their property of at least get a valuation from estate agents.

"This is a big challenge that estate agents need to address if we are going to keep the market moving."

Sinclair was speaking at FSE Glasgow which is taking place at the Hilton, William Street, Glasgow until 5pm.