Which CRM do estate agents use in the UK?
Most sales and lettings agencies run one of a handful of property CRMs. They all syndicate listings to the portals, match applicants to properties and track sales from offer to completion. They differ in who they're built for and how open they are to anything you add.
| CRM | Built for | How we'd connect to it |
|---|---|---|
| Alto | Sales, lettings and property management; part of Zoopla. Has its own AI features (appraisal builder, listing writer, progression chaser). | An API and Partner Hub with a test environment. We'd confirm your access before building. |
| Reapit (AgencyCloud) | Larger and multi-branch agencies, with chain management and progression checklists. | Foundations: a public developer portal and REST API, with an AppMarket for AgencyCloud customers. |
| Street | Sales, lettings, property management and client accounting in one system. | An open API with webhooks covering viewings, valuations, applicants, vendors, tenants and landlords. |
| Dezrez (Rezi) | Cloud CRM for growing agencies, across sales, lettings and management. | Checked case by case before we quote. |
| Expert Agent, Jupix, AgentPro | Established systems, often chosen by smaller and independent agencies. | Checked case by case; email and export routes always exist as a fallback. |
| HubSpot or Zoho | General CRMs some agencies adapt. No portal feeds or client accounting of their own. | Open APIs; the gap is the property side, not the connection. |
Built from each vendor's own site and published comparisons, September 2026. Links under Sources.
Should we build our own estate agency CRM?
Usually not. Portal syndication, client money accounting and the compliance records around them are years of work that the specialist CRMs have already done. Rebuilding them costs more than it saves for almost every agency.
| What you need | Specialist property CRM | General CRM (HubSpot, Zoho) | Custom build | Spreadsheet and inbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portal feeds | Built in | Needs a connector | Has to be built | None |
| Sales progression | Built in, varies in depth | Set up by hand | Built to your process | A column per milestone |
| Client accounting | Built in on most | No | Rarely worth building | No |
| Fits an unusual process | Within its settings | Flexible | Fully | Fully, until it breaks |
| Best for | Almost every agency | Agencies with a non-property sales side | A tool your CRM doesn't do | The first few months |
Custom work makes sense in narrower places: a new-homes or land team whose process the CRM doesn't fit, one dashboard across branches, a valuation lead tool on your website, or the calls and follow-up covered below. More on where that line falls on our CRM and job management page.
Who answers the phone when we're all out on viewings?
Saturdays and early evenings are when applicants ring and when your negotiators are standing in someone's kitchen. A call that goes to voicemail is often an applicant who rings the next agent on the portal instead.
| The call | Voicemail | Answering service | AI receptionist |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Is it still available?" | No answer | Takes a message | Answers from the live listing |
| Booking a viewing | Call back later | Usually takes a message | Books into the diary |
| Valuation enquiry | Call back later | Takes a message | Puts it through or books the appraisal |
| Applicant details | Whatever they leave | Name and number | Position, buying budget and mortgage status, logged in the CRM |
| Out of hours | Yes | Depends on the plan | Yes |
An AI receptionist built for an agency reads from your CRM, so it knows the asking price, the viewing slots and whether an offer has been accepted. It tells callers it's an automated assistant and hands vendors and anything sensitive to a person. If you're on Alto, check what Lead Flow already covers on portal enquiries; we'd build for the phone line and anything it doesn't reach.
How do we stop valuations going cold?
A market appraisal is the agency's version of a quote, and most vendors who don't instruct on the day simply stop replying. Nobody forgets them on purpose; the negotiator is busy with the listings they did win.
- A thank-you the same day with the appraisal, the comparables and what you'd do to market the property.
- A check-in a few days later that asks one question: is anything holding you back?
- A note when a similar property on their street goes under offer or sells, from your own CRM data.
- A reminder to the negotiator, with the history, when the vendor opens or replies.
We build this on top of the valuations already in your CRM. The timings and wording are yours. How we approach follow-up in general is in how to follow up on a quote.
How do we keep sales moving without chasing solicitors all day?
Sales progression is mostly chasing: searches ordered, survey booked, mortgage offer issued, enquiries raised and answered. Buyers and vendors ring for updates, and the progressor rings solicitors to get them.
Milestone updates
Buyer and vendor each get a plain update when a milestone moves, by email or WhatsApp, so they ring less.
Stalled-sale flags
A sale with no movement for a set number of days goes to the top of the progressor's list with the last contact on it.
Chaser drafts
Emails to the other side's solicitor drafted from the file, for the progressor to check and send.
Chain view
One page showing every sale in the chain and where it's stuck, where your CRM doesn't already show it.
Reapit and Alto both have progression tools. We build where yours stops, and write every update back to the sale record.
Do estate agents use AI, and where is it worth it?
Yes. The big CRMs now ship their own: Street writes descriptions, and Alto added an appraisal builder, listing writer and progression chaser. So check what your CRM does before paying anyone for description writing or photo tidying.
Where custom AI still pays is the work between systems: the phone, the portal inbox, WhatsApp, and the follow-up that no single tool owns. It's also where agencies differ most, so an off-the-shelf add-on tends to fit worst there.