Just like any business with an address, letting agents can be plotted onto a map and we can gain some great insight into just how competitive this market is. The image of Reading below shows all of the letting agents in the area and highlights just how tightly packed together competitors are.
It can clearly be seen that whilst the need for a central branch is said to be less important in modern day letting, the majority of agents still prefer to have a central location. Also displayed on the map is a five-mile radius and a five-mile drive distance zone. We felt that this was a great visualisation of the difference between how far a customer is capable of travelling on a road compared to “as the crow flies”.
Within the five mile radius there is a total of:
Now let’s take a look at Peterborough, where Atlas Mapping is based.
It just so happens that Peterborough has a very unique arrangement of letting agents as can be seen below. Unfortunately, we do not have an immediate answer for such a unique arrangement of competition. But importantly what it does show that not everywhere conforms to the assumed norms as you might expect.