UK property market lacks reliable out-of-hours enquiry data

The UK residential lettings sector has no independent nationwide measurement of how many enquiries arrive outside office hours. Supplier‑provided estimates vary widely, from 26 % (Moneypenny’s switchboard data) to 91 % (Nested’s surveyed responses), with other firms reporting figures between 50 % and 65 %. A frequently quoted claim that “40 % of enquiries arrive out of hours” is a misquotation of a 2014 mystery‑shopping study that measured slow agent response times, not enquiry timing.

Analysis by Clevaa founder James Mulholland highlights that the disparate numbers stem from self‑selected samples rather than true market data. Independent snapshots such as Propertymark’s Housing Insight Report (September 2025) show an average branch receives about 184 new buyer or tenant applications per month – roughly six a day, including weekends – and portal traffic data from 2019 identifies 8:48 pm on a Wednesday as the peak home‑search hour. The gap between customer expectations for rapid replies and agents’ limited out‑of‑hours capacity remains a sector‑wide operational challenge.