Cairns

What Cairns does

Cairns & Co is a privately held, family-run residential and commercial property agency operating from a single branch at 32 Cregagh Road in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. The firm serves individual buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants across East Belfast and adjacent submarkets including South Belfast and Newtownabbey. Its service portfolio is organised around six integrated lines: residential sales, residential lettings (with a "No Let No Fee" policy), full property management at 7.5% per month, free property valuations, and commercial sales and lettings. Inventory at the time of capture comprised approximately 68 residential sales listings, 89 residential rental listings, and 3 commercial listings, indicating a mid-sized regional operation with 51-100 employees.

Name

Cairns

Legal name

Cairns & Co

Website

https://cairnsni.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Cairns & Co is a privately held, family-run Belfast estate agency offering residential sales, lettings, property management, valuations, and commercial property services from its East Belfast branch to individual buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants across East and South Belfast.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Residential Real Estate Brokerage

NAICS

Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (5312), Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (53121), Residential Property Managers (531311)

SIC

Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531), Operators Of Apartment Buildings (6513)

akta.pro primary industry

Buyer Representation Services (BPAJAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Real Estate Buyer Representation (FSAEAJAG), Land & Development Site Brokerage (BPAJABAG)

Keywords

• Residential property sales
• Property lettings
• Property management
• Commercial property brokerage
• Property valuations

Headquarters

HQ city

Belfast

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Property Sales Commission: Commission fees for residential property sales, starting at £950.00 all inclusive, with competitive rates offered on either a Fixed Fee or percentage commission basis.
2. Letting Fees: One-time letting fees: £300 plus VAT for Managed Properties and £350 plus VAT for Let Only Services. NO LET NO FEE policy applies.
3. Property Management Fees: Monthly management fee of 7.5% for full property management services, covering tenant placement, rent collection, and property maintenance oversight.
4. Valuation Services: Free valuations offered for both sales and rentals as a lead generation service for property transactions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Cairns & Co is a family-run estate agency providing residential and commercial property brokerage, lettings, and property management services in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. The firm markets properties, arranges viewings, negotiates sales and tenancies, and manages rental portfolios for landlords, supported by listings on PropertyPal and PropertyNews and a single Cregagh Road branch office.

Product overview

Cairns & Co is a family-run estate agent offering a unified property services platform for the East Belfast market. The core product portfolio consists of six integrated services: Residential Sales Services (including free valuations and marketing packages), Lettings Services (with 'No Let No Fee' pricing), Property Management (7.5% monthly management), Property Valuations, Commercial Sales, and Commercial Lettings. These services operate through a single branch on Cregagh Road with online presence via PropertyPal.com and PropertyNews.com, enabling property listing distribution across major property portals while maintaining centralized sales and lettings operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Residential Sales Services

Quantifiable outcome

• 8.97% gross rental yield achievable on investment properties (example: 36 Soudan Street)
• +2 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• PropertyPalcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPropertyPal is the primary property listing platform partner, providing the technology infrastructure for property listings, virtual tours, video hosting, map integration, and property search functionality on Cairns & Co's website. The platform handles property shortlisting, email alerts, and brochure downloads.
• PropertyNewsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPropertyNews is a secondary property portal partner providing additional market exposure for listed properties beyond PropertyPal.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Simon Brien Residential: Long-established Belfast/Northern Ireland estate agency offering residential sales, lettings, and property management. Comparable as a direct regional competitor covering overlapping Belfast postcodes with a similar full-service model.
• Country Estates: Belfast-based residential estate agency focused on sales and lettings across the greater Belfast area. Comparable to Cairns for its local market focus, multi-service offering, and reliance on portal-based listing distribution.
• Fetherston Clements: Belfast-based estate agent providing sales, lettings, and property management services across Northern Ireland. Comparable in business model and service portfolio to Cairns, operating in overlapping Belfast geographies.
• McClelland Salter: Belfast independent estate agency offering residential sales, lettings, and management. Comparable as a similarly-sized Northern Ireland independent competing in overlapping Belfast submarkets with a comparable service mix.
• E McGlone & Sons: Long-established Belfast estate agency offering residential sales, lettings, and property management. Comparable as a heritage family-run independent competing for the same landlord and seller pool in the Belfast market.

Emerging players

• Purplebricks: Hybrid/online estate agency offering fixed-fee residential sales services across the UK. Comparable as a differentiated go-to-market model that competes on price and digital experience against traditional agents like Cairns.
• Strike: Online-first estate agency offering fixed-fee residential sales in the UK. Comparable as an emerging low-cost competitor that pressures the commission economics of traditional high-street agents such as Cairns.

Broad incumbents

• Reeds Rains: UK-wide estate agency chain offering residential sales, lettings, and mortgage services. Comparable as a broader incumbent with overlapping services targeting similar residential buyer/seller and landlord segments across the UK, including Northern Ireland.
• Leaders: National UK residential sales, lettings, and property management chain. Comparable as a multi-branch incumbent with the same core service portfolio (sales, lettings, management) targeting similar landlord and seller personas.

Others

• PropertyPal: Northern Ireland's leading property portal and a strategic channel partner to Cairns. Comparable as the dominant marketplace on which Cairns listings are distributed; also powers much of the agency's underlying website technology.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CairnsCoNi
• Facebookfacebook.com/cairnsni

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cairns