Competitor listing analyser

Know what your competition is asking, and why half of it will not sell

How a competitor listing analysis changes the appraisal conversation from opinion to evidence.

Kieran Slinger · Propalt · For estate agents

Every agent knows their local rivals by feel: who is active, roughly what they are asking, who seems to be winning or struggling. What almost none have is a systematic, data-backed read on competitor stock by type, beds, price and EPC: the kind of intelligence that actually sharpens a price recommendation or an appraisal pitch.

The agent who walks into a valuation knowing the comparables and the competitive picture around them, what else is on at this price, how it stacks up on size and EPC, how long it has been sitting, brings a level of preparation the vendor can feel.

What competitive positioning analysis actually shows

A competitor listing analysis for a target area does three things that a casual portal browse cannot. It normalises for size by calculating price per square foot across competing stock. It surfaces EPC rating as a competitive dimension alongside price. And it identifies which competing listings have been on the market long enough to have lost credibility with buyers, which is important context for a vendor considering whether to compete at a similar price.

That picture tells a clear story. The best-value property at £475,000 with a B-rated EPC went under offer in eight days. The most expensive at £525,000 has been sitting for 71 days with a C-rated EPC and is not competitive on a price-per-square-foot basis. The recommended range for the subject property positions it to compete with the two strong performers and avoid the pricing trap of the slow-moving stock.

That recommendation, presented to a vendor with the supporting data, is not a subjective opinion. It is a competitive analysis.

The appraisal pitch that demonstrates real market knowledge

Vendors increasingly prepare for valuation meetings by browsing the portals themselves. An agent who arrives with a competitor analysis that goes past what that browsing shows, normalising for size, bringing in EPC and tenure, and flagging which competing properties have already gone stale, demonstrates a command of the market a portal cannot match.

The agent arrives at the appraisal with something the vendor has not seen. That is the difference between an agent who quotes a figure and one who explains it.

The agent who knows the competitive picture doesn't guess at the price. They recommend it from evidence.

Cut the picture by the agent who listed it

The competitive set gets sharper when you can filter it by brand. Listings can now be narrowed to a named estate agent, which turns a general read on local stock into a specific read on a specific rival: what they ask against floor area, how long their stock sits, whether their pricing holds or drifts. A firm with four listings past sixty days and a firm clearing in a fortnight are pricing differently, and that is worth knowing before a vendor asks who else they ought to invite.

Two details keep the comparison honest. An EPC rating carries an inspection date, and a certificate issued in 2014 describes a building that may have been insulated twice since, so the date belongs beside the rating rather than behind it. And tenure has to match before anything else does. A leasehold flat with eighty years left on the lease is not like for like with a share of freehold at the same price per square foot, however similar the two look sitting next to each other in a table.

Walk into every appraisal with the competitive picture already mapped.

Try the Competitor listing analyser → · propalt.ai

Competitive listing data sourced from live portal activity via the Propalt intelligence layer. Price per square foot calculations require floor area data where available. This article is general information for estate agency professionals.