The Voice of the Agent research initiative has released two industry reports examining salaries, leadership and the prime property market, alongside launching a training platform for estate agency professionals.
The publications – The Voice of the Agent Part Four: People & Salary and The Voice of the Agent: The Prime Cut – analyse recruitment patterns, compensation structures and the upper-tier residential market. The initiative has also launched The Faculty, a training programme addressing operational challenges identified through its research.
Simon Leadbetter, founder of We Are Unchained and Curator of The Voice of the Agent, said the reports aim to provide “structured evidence” rather than opinion to the estate agency sector.
Salary and leadership findings
The fourth instalment examines salary structures and career progression across estate and lettings agencies. The report found that leadership positions remain disproportionately male despite women forming a slight majority within the sector overall.
Income progression is heavily tied to seniority and scale rather than effort alone, according to the findings. Self-employment creates both greater income potential and increased financial volatility, the report states.
The research indicates agents remain engaged with their work but many express concern about long-term professional direction. These findings come as 44% of UK homes listed for sale fail to find buyers, highlighting operational pressures facing the sector.
Prime property market analysis
The Prime Cut report examines the UK’s upper quartile, prime and super-prime residential markets, which the research describes as “three completely different industries operating under the same job title.”
The report states that more than 10,000 agencies operate in UK residential property, but only 175 hold a single super-prime instruction. Brand recognition becomes less important as property values rise, with trust and network reputation increasingly determining instruction allocation.
AI adoption is accelerating within prime agency, with more than half of prime agents now using AI tools daily, according to the findings. Super-prime agency increasingly operates as a relationship-driven ecosystem built on long-term trust rather than scale, the report states.
The publication includes an interview with DDRE Global founder Daniel Daggers examining off-market transactions and the convergence between media, technology and high-end estate agency.
Training initiative launched
The Faculty brings together Jo Bourne of Impact CTMD, Simon Leadbetter of We Are Unchained, Danielle Nash of Diomed Consulting, and Clare Yates of CY Training Works. The initiative addresses capability gaps identified through The Voice of the Agent research programme.
The programme focuses on leadership and behaviour, brand promise and customer experience, marketing and strategic positioning, and operational excellence. The first event is scheduled for September 2026.
Leadbetter said the programme focuses on “implementation rather than theory” to help agencies build capability across leadership, culture and operations. The training platform represents an expansion beyond research for The Voice of the Agent, which launched as a data-gathering project examining industry performance and operational challenges across the UK property sector.
