Real estate agents named Nigel, Mike or Louise sell their homes faster than anyone else, according to research by British online real estate firm House Network.
In the U.K., Nigels require 12 per cent fewer viewings than the second fastest name in the rankings, Mike, and 34 per cent less than the average of 15. The company says vendors named Louise, the third fastest name for sellers, are taking down the for sale sign in 25 per cent fewer viewings than the national average.
At the other end of the spectrum, sellers named Jason take the longest to sell at nearly double the average number of viewings per sale of a Nigel, and need 31 per cent more than the British average to complete. Ben, Nicholas, Colin and Darren round out the top five slowest selling names.
House Network says it compiled the report using data from 8,883 house sales in the U.K.
There appears to be no gender bias at the quickest end of the market, with an equal split of male and female names in the list of the top 10 fastest selling monikers. However, men dominate the 10 slowest selling names as Kate, Lucy and Amanda are the only women’s names to feature this low.
The report also shows that the most common vendor names overall are David, Paul, Andrew and Mark. The same names feature prominently as the most popular on the buying side of the deal. The most common is David again. Sarah and Emma are the top buying female names.
“It’s hard to put a finger on why Nigels are the quickest sellers; maybe it’s subliminal, maybe buyers just like the sound of the name Nigel, who knows,” says Mark Readings, House Network CEO.
“The frequency of buyers and vendors called David has a more clear cut explanation with this name being a permanent fixture in the top five most popular baby names from 1950-1990, simply meaning there are just more Davids of house buying and selling age.”
Click here to see the complete table of names and average viewings per sale.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Realtor.com pitted male street names – such as the Jacksons, Grants and Coopers – against female street names – the Pearls, Elizabeths, and Roses – to determine which street name could hold more value.
It found that there are more properties on male streets than female-named streets. However, properties on female streets were found to be more valuable.
Streets with human names have less expensive properties compared to all streets. Realtor.com’s team speculates that could be due to the fact many of those streets with human names tend to have older houses.
The median year of construction for homes on male streets is 1970; the median year for female streets is 1981.
For more, see Grant Street vs. Ashley Road: Who Wins the Battle of the Sexes in Street Names?
