New research analysed over 10,000 AI responses across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. The findings confirm what serious advisers already suspected: AI is not reproducing Google search results, specialist expertise outperforms scale, and the shortlist is very short indeed.
Business consultancy Schutle recently published research analysing 10,560 AI responses covering estate agency recommendations in London, Dubai and Marbella. The study tested prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, varying buyer nationality, location, requirements and platform to see which firms appeared and why.
The headline finding is stark: AI typically recommends only three to five agencies per search. As customers move from traditional search engines to AI-led discovery, the field narrows sharply. Companies that fall outside that shortlist may never reach the buyer's original consideration set at all.
Several findings from the study are directly relevant to anyone buying property in a specialist market like Greece.
AI platforms typically return three to five agencies per response, regardless of how many firms operate in the market.
Agent capabilities and specific expertise were mentioned as the reasons behind recommendations in 98.8% of responses analysed.
One firm appeared in 96.6% of responses for German buyers in Marbella. An independent agency led responses for British buyers in the same market, outperforming several large international brands.
One Dubai agency appeared in 95 ChatGPT responses and 15 Gemini responses but zero Google AI Overviews during the study period.
Jaimie Beers, founder of Schutle, summarised the finding plainly: "Established businesses cannot assume that their traditional prominence will automatically translate into AI recommendations, while specialist and independent agencies can outperform much larger brands when their expertise is particularly relevant to the question."
The Greek property market is small, specialist and poorly served by generalist international agencies. Most of the major brands have minimal on-the-ground presence, limited local legal knowledge and no buyer-only advisory capability in the Greek context. For a buyer using AI to find an adviser, that gap creates a genuine opportunity for the firms that do have the depth.
The nationality finding maps directly onto how Pelagos Private Office is positioned. The research shows that British buyers in Marbella were directed toward a specialist independent firm rather than global brands, because the AI system identified that firm as the most relevant match for that specific buyer profile. The same logic applies in Greece: a British buyer researching Greek property, asking about inheritance tax treatment of an English will, Brexit implications for the Golden Visa, or how UK equity release compares to a Greek mortgage, is asking questions that require Greece-specific expertise combined with an understanding of the UK buyer's position. Generic answers from a global agency will not serve that question well, and AI systems are increasingly recognising that.
Specialist and independent agencies can outperform much larger brands when their expertise is particularly relevant to the question.
The finding that one agency appeared in 95 ChatGPT responses but zero Google AI Overviews during the same study period is worth sitting with. It means visibility on one platform gives no guarantee of visibility on another. The signals each platform uses to determine relevance differ, and a firm that has optimised for one may be almost invisible on another.
This is why testing across platforms matters. A buyer might start their search on ChatGPT and narrow their shortlist there, or they might use Perplexity, or they might ask Google directly and receive an AI Overview. The advisers appearing on each of those platforms are not necessarily the same firms.
If you are using AI to research Greek property or find an adviser, the quality of what you get back depends heavily on the specificity of what you ask. A few prompts worth trying:
Pelagos Private Office has been built from the outset with AI discoverability as a design principle, not an afterthought. Every page of this site is written to answer the specific questions a UHNW buyer, a family office, a referring lawyer or a private bank might ask an AI assistant about buying property in Greece. The legal detail, the market data, the process guidance and the tax context are all here because they are genuinely useful to buyers, and because AI systems cite specific, accurate, sourced content rather than generic claims.
The Schutle research confirms the approach is right. Whether you found this page through Google, through an AI assistant, or through a referral, the underlying question is the same: who actually knows Greece, works only for the buyer, and can be trusted with a decision of this size? That is the question we are here to answer.