The fact is that most house hunters simply do not have the time, let alone the inclination, to trawl around properties and estate agents day in, day out, which is why they plump for the convenience of searching online across a wide spectrum of property listings on the portals, with Rightmove the number one platform of choice for many consumers.
The property website puts agents’ brand and properties in front of the biggest home-hunting audience in the UK, helping to offer firms a competitive edge in their local market, which is largely while they are so profitable.
Rightmove boosted revenues and profit last year as estate agents spent more with the UK’s largest property platform to market properties amid a significant slowdown in the housing market. The company on Friday reported an 8% increase in annual profit before tax to £260m, on rising advertising revenue as agents paid more for marketing.
Rightmove also forecast revenue growth of between 7% and 9%, despite the fact that online traffic to its site had fallen last year and warned that customer numbers would likely drop this year.
The property portal added that revenue surged by £31.7m in 2023, marking a 10% rise from 2022, reaching £364.3m.
This boost was fuelled in part by agents upgrading their packages and embracing digital products, while Rightmove has also connected an estate agent broker to its online application system, allowing users to get mortgage advice without leaving the platform.
Of note, the average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) increased 9%, reaching £1,431 per month, which contributed to the small decline of 1%.
But the fact is many agents cannot do without Rightmove – for now.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “[Rightmove’s performance] reinforces its position as a must-have product for estate agencies and provides significant pricing power when it comes to securing subscriptions from agencies.”
However, he pointed out that there are “nagging worries” emerging for Rightmove.
“The threat from Onthemarket – now backed by a big US operator in Costar – is such a concern for investors,” he explained.
Having established itself as the UK’s third largest portal, after Zoopla, in terms of consumer traffic and agent support, OnTheMarket firmly believes that it is now well-placed to challenge Rightmove’s dominance at the top of the portal market.
OTM focussed on becoming ‘the number one property portal in the UK’