By Nigel Lewis.
Black Brick buying agents boss, Camilla Dell ‘lifts the lid’ on the growth of Black Brick in recent years, and the type of housing markets we work in.
As Black Brick marks 18 years in business, founder and Managing Partner Camilla Dell has been sharing her vision for the firm’s next chapter — including expansion into the South West of England, a growing property management offering and her frank assessment of what makes a genuinely independent buying agent indispensable in today’s market, as reported by The Negotiator.
Dell revealed that in prime London, an estimated 40-50% of homes for sale are never advertised on the major portals — a figure that underlines the core value of Black Brick’s market access. With over 7,000 estate agency firms now operating in London, many run by independent or self-employed agents, the landscape has become increasingly fragmented. “Buyers can go to the obvious big brands to find their next home in prime London, but increasingly the home they want is being marketed by a smaller independent estate agency or a self-employed agent, both of whom aren’t so easy to track down,” she said. Dell herself monitors around 50 WhatsApp groups to stay across off-market opportunities.
On property management, Dell explained that demand has grown directly from the changing circumstances of Black Brick’s client base. “A lot of our customers value and need that kind of service at the moment because they are probably spending less time in the UK following the recent changes to the non-dom rules, so they need their homes looking after and struggle to find suitable vetted tradespeople and trusted property managers,” she said.
Dell also addressed the democratisation of buying agency services — a significant shift since Black Brick launched. “It’s not just for the super-wealthy any longer — we look after clients with budgets starting from £1 million now, whereas back in the day people thought buying agents were for those only with budgets in the tens of millions. In many parts of London these days that includes first-time buyers looking for their first home.”
On the question of estate agencies launching in-house buying operations, Dell was typically direct. “There’s a reason why companies like Knight Frank have completely separate and independent buying agency operations — otherwise there’s a conflict of interest, particularly if it’s done under the same brand name as the sales division.”
As featured in The Negotiator.
Read the full interview here.