Cutting through the noise in the property market has always been a challenge.
Most businesses offer similar services to similar audiences, often using identical language to describe what they do. With rising borrowing costs, customers have stopped choosing lenders on rates alone, and service has taken centre stage – but even exceptional service is now something the market simply expects, rather than an advantage in itself.
As a result, PR has had to evolve. It’s no longer a standalone thing that people turn to when they need the odd bit of coverage, but a strategic extension of marketing teams across the industry. Without it, it’s very difficult to elevate a company’s external voice so it actually supports brand and commercial goals.
More value with less exposure
One of the biggest shifts has been away from volume. It’s no longer about pushing out as much content as possible; the challenge is getting a distinctive message in front of people who genuinely care about it.
Audiences such as mortgage brokers and professional landlords are incredibly busy and very good at filtering out anything that doesn’t immediately matter to them, so PR now needs to work harder to deliver something of real value.
Research remains one of the oldest tools in the PR kit, but because so many businesses do it, it only works if it uncovers something genuinely useful. For many clients, the aim is either to explore untouched topics or to become so consistently associated with a particular issue that they effectively “own” it.
Our work with Market Financial Solutions is a perfect example. For several years, we’ve run biannual surveys on gazumping – a subject that reliably triggers debate across the property market. By returning to it again and again, MFS has been able to track long-term trends while still producing fresh insights that resonate every time. Over the years, they’ve become firmly associated with the issue, helping them stand out in a space where original commentary is often hard to come by.
Thought leadership follows the same principle. When I first started, it wasn’t unusual to see several articles a month saying roughly the same thing in different publications. Today, clients gain far more from placing high-quality, highly targeted commentary than from saturating the trade press.
A recent piece for Butterfield Mortgages on how the Great Wealth Transfer could reshape Prime Central London is a good example. The audience is extremely specific, so instead of sending it to a broad property title, it went to PrimeResi – a paywalled publication, yes, but one read exactly by the people who understand and work on these issues every day.
Focus on community and engagement
Alongside media work, LinkedIn has become central to how the property industry communicates. It is now where brokers, landlords, lenders and developers go to share opinions, talk about the market, and build professional networks. Because of this shift, clients want support not just with coverage but with presence – building a community that pays attention to what they say.
No one wants a feed full of bland corporate updates. What works is personality, relevance and consistency. We therefore highlight media coverage, celebrate results, share insights, showcase charity work or events, and occasionally offer a glimpse behind the scenes. Done properly, it creates an audience that understands what the business does and actually wants to engage with it.
This focus on community also feeds into real-world activity. Breakfast briefings, roundtables and curated networking sessions are becoming increasingly important because clients want to go further than achieving visibility. More and more, we're facilitating conversations with brokers, stakeholders and potential partners, but it's important to remember that these aren't open-door events. They're intentionally designed gatherings that bring exactly the right people – and media outlets – into the room.
Being outspoken on key events
Then there are the moments when the entire sector turns its attention to a single point in time. The Budget, an interest rate announcement, a major regulatory update – these are all key moments where PR teams can elevate their clients from being part of the conversation to leading it.
Reactive commentary used to mean sending a quote within a few hours. Now, it means being ready the moment news breaks, with messaging that cuts through the noise and actually adds something to the conversation. The best responses don’t just repeat what everyone already knows but contextualise it, explain the implications and offer a sense of direction.
This is where specialist knowledge makes a difference. At CRC, we pride ourselves on understanding an industry well enough to react instantly and confidently. It means that as a PR team we’re more than a middleman between the media and a client, providing advice and expertise on what any piece of news actually means. We can then share our advice on how to best position a client in that context.
A more strategic and consultative future
As the market has changed, and what this blog outlines, PR has naturally become more strategic. Our clients aren’t coming to us purely for press coverage, but for the expertise we can provide outside of the traditional realms of PR.
They want someone who understands their market well enough to respond instantly to live events, who can shape research in a way that cuts through, and who knows which publications genuinely influence their audience.
In practice, this means PR is becoming more embedded in a business’s broader commercial thinking. It overlaps with marketing, brand, communications and stakeholder engagement because all of those areas now rely on a clear, consistent external voice.
The future of PR in the property sector, therefore, isn’t about doing more activity. It’s about using insight, timing and strategic focus to do the activity that actually matters.
