Design-Led, Savvy, Intimate: The Modern Luxurian's Real Estate Agency

The estate agent. The realtor. The property broker. Whatever the moniker, the concept evokes a specific character: polished, smooth-talking, outwardly well-off, prone to hyperbole – a networker, or worse, a salesman.

Although this figure is certainly a stereotype, parodies often rely heavily on the original work.

However, the once-accepted non-ideals of slick agents are facing a reckoning with the approaching seismic shift in generational wealth and wealth more generally.

At the end of 2023, there were 4.2 per cent more UHNWIs (ultra high net worth individuals) than a year earlier, according to Knight Frank's Wealth Report – and, as previously mentioned, many of them are planning to purchase property within the year.

Demographic focus shifts are underway too: "Attitudes to wealth creation among female Gen Z-ers suggests the 38% rise in female UHNWIs over the past decade is set to keep building." With wealth becoming far more diverse than in previous decades, real estate agencies should follow suit; casting off stale ideas of luxury buyers to encompass the breadth of 2024's affluent consumers.

Property sales is no longer a box-ticking exercise, estate agencies have to offer more than appealing listings to close deals. Property and lifestyle go hand in hand – they're inextricably linked. And yet agencies often forget the fact, instead focused on fostering a vibe of pomp and circumstance or an acutely anodyne service. Of course, alleviating pain points can be an effective pursuit for estate agents, however, a degree of friction along the journey makes for a more memorable experience. Offering moments to stick in the minds of buyers.

It's perhaps easy to forget that these are huge purchases, an investment that is both financial and highly emotional. For many, buying property is a key milestone, regardless of price point. So often, though, the experience is fraught. And even if we can't control the market, agencies undoubtedly have the power to disrupt it – and many are.

Boutique, franchise, specialist, global, independent. It's all semantics really. Today, what sets the memorable from the mediocre lies in brand spirit, savviness, story, design and the kind of agent-buyer intimacy impossible to fake.

Aucoot

"A remarkable way to sell remarkable homes." – Aucoot's opening line, flanked by a singular image of aesthetic interiors and peachy white space, is likely to intrigue even the most rapid of scrollers; the arbiters of high bounce rate metrics.

Their remarkable method? A melting pot of a concentrated brand, community-focus and variety as a specialism. Although some might see founder John McDavid's frequent passes on properties as imperious (Aucoot turns down more than it takes on), a high level of discernment in luxury estate agency is hardly a new frontier.

McDavid's "you just know it when you see it" attitude to property is reminiscent of an "if you know, you know" or "IYKYK" vibe that has been sweeping through culture as more and more consumers crave nuance. Aucoot's clientele – cash-rich, time-poor, inner-city lawyers – are also partial to this approach, seeking an agency who can "just know it when you see it" on their behalf.

Incisiveness when it comes to taking on properties also preserves the brand itself, avoiding any dilution that may come with inflated growth. Biggest is not always best, especially as customer-intimacy replaces customer-centricity as a founding pillar of brand interactions.

The Modern House

The Modern House is one of London's most sought-after agencies courting the one per cent – but perhaps not the one traditionalists would imagine. GQ listed the estate agency as "one of the best things in the world", while Esquire believe they're "rewriting the rulebook".

Though I imagine many real estate agencies would claim to be 'inspired by design', 'awed by the beauty of architecture', 'facilitators of the art of homemaking' or something as equally nauseating without true-to-life evidence, The Modern House is up there with the most savvy authenticity of them all. The first design-led estate agents in the UK's public imagination (whether they actually were the first is irrelevant when up against accepted belief).

From biophilic masterpieces outside of the M25 to city dwellings worthy of a dedicated Grand Designs special, TMH's sales read as a who's-who in the world of property and architecture whilst the individual listing pages could have convincingly been written by novelists – a far cry from shouty bullet points of amenities that should really be a given when we hit seven figures.

With no premises to speak of, digital and content stand as TMH cornerstones. They've stayed at the leading edge of estate agency thanks to an unwavering dedication to the brand's editorial output. That is, telling stories. The Modern House boosts a huge community (773,000 followers on Instagram), a podcast and a journal that is contributed to frequently, rather than twice a year. Within these platforms, TMH's content invites its community to get to know interesting people in their interesting homes, lifestyle and interior hacks for city slickers, local's guides to London's many varied boroughs, videos that bring the stories of seemingly sundry objects to life through the lens of photographers, architects and other characters of that ilk.

The listings are undeniably gorgeous, but that alone is a tough basis to build brand distinction upon. Treating top of the market property as tablestakes for their clientele, The Modern House gives new meaning to the term 'trailblazer' by focusing on nurturing a community of like-minds with compelling stories in every form – many of whom won't be anywhere close to being considered 'prospects', but, by the time they are, TMH is already front of mind.

Knight Frank

The oldest of this selection, Knight Frank was founded in London in 1896 and is one of the world’s leading independent real estate agencies, with an international footprint spanning 51 territories across the globe.

As a brand of such scale and stature in the industry, Knight Frank’s pursuit of digital excellence ensures their leading role in what is often thought to be quite a stayed sector in terms of innovation. Their editorial contributions to the industry only serve to bolster that position, as their teams continuously work to re-imagine what buying and selling could look like.

The business itself may not be your typical challenger brand, but it's a marque challenging the status quo that defines luxury property markets. They are forerunners in customer-intimacy, hence Knight Frank's inclusion in this piece.

With this in mind, optimisation for different client journeys alone wasn’t going to be enough, we needed to bring fresh ideas and a design language that was modern but befitting of a cherished heritage brand.

In 2019, Knight Frank – having worked with Matter Of Form previously – approached our team to redesign their most important client touch point: a complex residential portal enabling buyers and sellers, as well as landlords and tenants, to manage their property journeys. What resulted was an intuitive platform with a modernised design language, still befitting a cherished heritage brand, that ensured clarity for Knight Frank's clientele through the often complicated or stressful process of buying or selling property.

What became clear throughout the project is Knight Frank's ambitions to be at the forefront of innovation across the board – to be a British heritage brand that has taken to the digital era seemingly effortlessly, without compromise, to ensure their client experience is the best it can be.

Brickworks

Born from the marriage of arts and estate agency, Brickworks busts stereotypes every day. With a predominantly female team that doesn't work on commission, this is an agency with clear-cut values and a commitment to them. Actively "anti-elistist" towards the properties they choose to list, the selection process is more of a vibecheck, which perhaps isn't surprising when you learn that the Brickworks team see themselves as more "creative studio" than estate agency.

That self-belief and experience in the arts prompted founders Ellie Rees and Rex Siney to integrate Studio Brickworks into their offering – a team of interiors specialists dedicated to ensuring sellers are getting the best from their space, "helping homes reach their full potential". Design-savvy with an eye for detail, the Brickworks method innately breeds authenticity in the brand. One testimonial reads: "They simply do not feel like estate agents. There's no sell, no fakeness; there's humour, directness & just good vibes."

Branding and designing an estate agency, it seems, is as simple as a solid vibe. In reality, success stems from the service offered. In Brickwork's case, their vibe is matched by a dedication to their clientele – a genuine care that goes beyond point of purchase to ensure happy tenants in happy homes. The antithesis of the deflated melancholy that many have experienced at the culmination of a property transaction.

Whilst 'disruptor brand' has become the aspirational buzzword for newcomers, good and bad, businesses who can actually fill some white space have been doing so – without cliche.

Whether through strong positioning, founding spirit, new approaches to CX or intense focus on digital and content, these agencies are setting their own standards and asking their audiences to contribute – to be part of whatever it is that makes them just different enough to have earned their engagement. It could be anything – luckily, finding and championing 'whatever it is' is our speciality. To find yours, and design what's next, get in touch with hello@matterofform.com and speak to one of our consultants.