Ireland’s estate agents continue to operate in a highly competitive landscape. While the number of agents in Ireland has grown 2.2% each year for the last five years, the number of available properties in March 2025 was 17% lower than the previous year, the lowest level since records began in 2007.

Amid this backdrop, property website Daft.ie has evolved to serve clients’ needs, said Emmet Creighton, strategic partnerships director at Daft.ie.

“What started as a property website for homes for both sale and rent is now a partner for estate agents,” he said. “We provide the tools and data they need to work with vendors and gain market share.”

Estate agency Sherry FitzGerald Davitt & Davitt, based in County Westmeath, has grown as it has partnered with Daft.ie, Managing Director Aidan Davitt said. The business has evolved considerably since it was founded 50 years ago, moving from in-person and print advertising to a focus on digital.

“When I first spoke to Daft a few years ago, we looked at where we saw ourselves going and took them at their word about where they were going,” he said. “Since then, we have certainly seen our business strengthen to have a decent market share. Daft provides the tools we need.”

In the past few years, Daft.it has added more agent tools to its platform as clients have asked for more features to be provided by property websites. These include features such as Offers by Daft, which is used for online offers, and Advantage Ads.

“We act as agents’ third-party technological partner, developing tools for their business,” Creighton said. “Their teams benefit from all our expertise, and as we’re future-focused, we’re evolving constantly and building new tools.”

As Daft.ie has evolved, the platform has encouraged agents to take a more data-driven approach, he said. The team provides information to clients on how many impressions a listing generates, where supply and demand come from, and the demographics of users.

This has been invaluable when advising vendors what options they should be investing in to attract more buyers and ultimately obtain the best possible price for their property, Davitt said.

Davitt said that the most useful aspect of working with Daft.ie is the team’s in-person involvement in helping agents make the most out of the platform. His staff are able to call their regional account manager directly when they need support in understanding why a listing isn’t performing well, for example.

“I’d highly recommend to other agents to have a regional account manager on speed dial,” he said. “We genuinely feel part of the team, and they’re helping us achieve the best results possible.”

Creighton said that this responsiveness is due to Daft.ie’s decision to locate staff members across the country. The team understands each market and takes the time to get to know each individual business.

Daft.ie can feed the knowledge it gains from understanding clients’ businesses into its own business development process to be support clients, he said.

“Creating a partnership is all about human interaction,” he said. “As technology becomes more sophisticated, you can never substitute it for actually getting to know clients and what they need or their challenges.”

As part of Daft.ie’s continued shift toward being a partner, the team provides support and training for agents in how to get the most value out of its platform. Recently, the team began supporting agents to shift to a vendor-funded advertising model where vendors invest in marketing their property, rather than agents funding advertising.

While this method is common internationally, it is a big change in Ireland’s market, Creighton said, but one that could stop agents from undercutting themselves by promising lower fees to win business.

“Vendors need to understand that to gain the best price for their home, they need to invest in marketing their property because in most cases it’s the biggest transaction of their life,” he said. “This is all part of our overall goal to help agents future-proof their business, expand their business development and provide their clients with the best service possible.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Daft.ie and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.