Chestertons, one of the founding agencies behind Agents' Mutual, says it is going to drop Rightmove and remain advertising on Zoopla and Primelocation from next month.
The agency has 30 offices across London and a further 20 international branches spanning 11 countries and five continents.
Under rules set up by Chestertons and five other high-end agents who founded Agents' Mutual, the new portal starting on January 26 - to be called OnTheMarket - requires any agency advertising with it to also advertise with no more than one other major portal.
For many, like Chestertons, that means dropping a portal.
A statement from Chestertons says that it is widely acknowledged amongst the industry that Zoopla and its premium PrimeLocation website has taken substantial market share and is now the strongest performer in London.
We have looked carefully at data collated over the past 12 months and the numbers clearly show that our properties get more views and our clients get more leads from the Zoopla and PrimeLocation websites when compared to other property portals. Based on our analysis of the data, this was an easy choice for us says Robert Bartlett, Chestertons' chief executive.
On top of this, we have all been impressed with the speed at which Zoopla Property Group has been able to grow over the past few years and, from working closely with them over recent months, know them to be an exciting and dynamic partner that is always looking for new ways to improve its website and service offering he says, adding that the agency will work with Zoopla in 2015 and beyond.
Meanwhile Savills says it is dropping Zoopla and going for Rightmove, in addition to what it calls the start-up agents' portal OnTheMarket.
The firm's spokesman, Paul Jarman, says: We put our ability to deliver effectively for our clients at the forefront of everything we do and this is the basis of our marketing strategy.
He says having analysed leads generated from portals, telephone calls and emails, plus conversions to sales and lettings, the enquiries from Rightmove are of a higher level and quality than those from Zoopla.
Last week Knight Frank also chose to ditch Zoopla.
So far there has been no announcement from the remaining three Agents' Mutual founding agencies - the London firms Douglas & Gordon and Glentree Estates, and the national high-end brand Strutt & Parker.
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Comments
"Pre-Internet" - like that :-)! If you're interested in a property search platform that isn't pre-internet, then do keep an eye out for the launch of Nest Property App. It's a mobile property search app for iPhone, and will have over 1.2 million UK properties for rent or to buy, right there in your pocket. You can sign up to get early access to the Nest property app here: www.nestpropertyapp.com
Maybe 'I don't believe it!' should be their slogan.
What have all AM people got in common
They're all post middle-aged. This means they're 1) pre-internet 2) crusty and stubborn (even if at their own expense). Think Victor Meldrew!
Is it same in your town
Are Savills and KF both members of Lonres. If so what if they list each others listings on rightmove and the other on zoopla - job done
If the big boys are so confident in their new portal why don't they drop both Rightmove and Zoopla Also when Rightmove and Zoopla combined still have the whole market to offer the public where is the need to go to OnTheMarket
Rather than bringing down a duopoly, aren't Agents' Mutual just going to create a new one
Yep, that's how I saw it. The whole point of Agents' Mutual was to break up the Rightmove-Zoopla duopoly, wasn't it Now, with most dropping Zoopla, Rigthmove goes from strength to strength. Which, as you say, defeats the whole object in the first place. The founders don't appear to have thought this through all that well.
In response to Jon Middleton:
Have you ever worked for an estate agency Here's an interesting fact for you; vendors do not instruct an agent based solely on the portal they use. This may be hard for you to understand if, as PeeBee says, you are an online agent supporter. People instruct agents based on a variety of things including; market share, local reputation, list of waiting buyers (which can eliminate the need for the property to ever reach the portals at all), quality of marketing materials, competence of staff and ability to see the sale through to completion.
Property portals are usually the last thing people ask about after valuation, and as long as the vendors know they are on one of the big 2, they are satisfied 99% of the time.
Ahhh... long time no billshut, Mr Middleton! I've almost missed your insightful comments into an industry you have clearly spent eighteen seconds researching and becoming an 'expert' on. On the subject of the above comment - can I just clarify... you ARE the same Jon Middleton who writes ridiculous articles for a website advocating PRIVATE SALES, aren't you So... that being the case - the "customers" that you refer to amount to 98+% of the market that you obviously DON'T SPEAK FOR... so you are hardly a voice that we are going to pay any attention to, Sir.
Typical arrogance from Savills and just about sums it all up! NOt very promising when a founder member refers to OTM as that.
Meanwhile Savills says it is dropping Zoopla and going for Rightmove, in addition to what it calls the start-up agents' portal OnTheMarket.
Word on the street is this is the founders are concerned that everyone is dropping Zoopla, only empowering Rightmove which defeats the whole point of Agents Mutual. For those smaller agents i would not be conned into believing that any of the founders will drop Rightmove, it would damage their businesses too much.
If you sign up to this Agents Mutual agreement you are seriously damaging your business and you're locked in contractually, this also only empowers the founders who gain further control over the high streets.
Agents Mutual is a double Trojan Horse tactic by the Founders to gain more power over the high streets and simultaneously a bargaining chip to reduce their portal fees but ultimately they know they'll stay with Rightmove and Zoopla.
This is all just empty threats that really don't am out to anything. All these guys seem to have forgotten that ultimately it's those "customers" who use Estate Agents that dictate which portal they want their property be on.