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Written by rosalind renshaw

More people than ever are going online to search for property – despite transactions dragging along the floor.

According to comScore, an independent analyst, an extra 2.2 million property searchers went online last month, compared with the figure for May of last year.

Altogether, there were 13.9 million visitors looking for UK property.

The real estate category growth saw each of the top three portals growing their unique visitors, with the fastest growing being Digital Property Group, which produces Primelocation and FindaProperty, where monthly unique visitors rose by 42% on April.
 
Figures from comScore give Digital 4.8 million visitors, and Zoopla 3.4 million visitors, up 25.7% on April’s traffic.

However, neither came close to Rightmove, which had 6.6 million unique visitors in May, a 16.4% increase on April.

Sheraz Dar, Digital’s marketing director, said: “All the main portals have committed to marketing in spring, so these figures provide a transparent comparison of campaign performance.

“DPG’s marketing investment is delivering dividends, outstripping its nearest competitors, and most importantly, achieving positive results for its member agents.”

Comments

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    As agents gather momentum in signing up on Nice2Move.com there could be a little less traffic hitting Rm and a lot more hitting Nice2Move.
    If agent are really unhappy with the prices they pay RM there are alternatives and we are one.

    • 25 June 2011 11:12 AM
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    hi thanks for sharing this....

    regards
    propertytalks.in [ www.Propertytalks.in is the best (free) real estate business website in India for buy, sell, and rent, all commercial and residential properties in India. ]

    • 24 June 2011 08:27 AM
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    RM themselves confess that 95% of their users are a waste of time or atleast thats how I see it when RM tell me that the target for CTR's on my properties is just 5% anything above and I am doing well.....!

    RM just told me (after a call from me to them to ensure I get this right) that the reason a 5% target is set for each property in terms of "real hits" is due to the large volume of traffic RM gets they themselves count 95% of users as basically browsers and nothing more ie no intention to buy!!

    So Rose, you could agrue that we have 330,000 visitors left (if you take off RMs 95% of Browsers off the 6.6m), minus each negotiator in each EA office in the land and the numbers left are much much lower!

    • 23 June 2011 14:33 PM
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    I look at rightmove regularly, I have no intention of buying a property now or in the near future, however I am aware of the direct correlation between the countrys economy and house prices. I believe it is a link we must somehow break. However, another child (who knows) or a circumstance change may mean i will be looking to buy. Then Id rather be an educated buyer than a mug

    • 23 June 2011 12:25 PM
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    Mike Wilson -
    I like your train of thought to a point and agree undoubtedly agents use RM probably everyday, as well as thousands of other people within the property sector however....your maths actually highlight that it's not the majority of agents contributing to this 6.6 million figure.

    RM gets 6.6million unique visits a month. This means no matter how many times your '50,000 agents' log on during a month they are classed as 1 visit with this metric.

    That leaves 6.5million and change, unique people still looking every month. If your RM account manager has any sales ability I would probably not mention this stat in your next RM meeting.....

    • 23 June 2011 09:48 AM
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    Agree with Chas - there is a lot of nervousness as prices sink. People are checking the value of their main 'asset' in the way people check share quotes. Just not much fun in a bear market like this ...

    • 22 June 2011 19:59 PM
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    Presumably the traffic is due to "Homeowners" looking to offload the millstone around their necks and attempting to get an idea of the value.

    • 22 June 2011 15:42 PM
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    I would guess the increase in "searches" are actually
    down to data scraping algorithms as opposed to "other interested parties".

    Sorry to prick that bubble guys.

    • 22 June 2011 14:44 PM
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    How many people work in estate agency? 15000 branches with an average of 3 employees? About 50 thousand people?

    If they each looked at RightMove once a day, that's 1.5 million views a month. If they each looked 10 times a day - that would explain every view that RightMove gets - and more.

    In days gone by you'd often find agents poring over the local property paper - looking at what the other agents had on, looking at price reductions, looking at what looked as though it might have sold ... presumably you all do this now on RightMove? Do you have RightMove open in a browser window all day? Come on, be honest, it's nothing to be ashamed of.

    • 22 June 2011 14:31 PM
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    eeeek! I'm going blind, I must stop this behaviour.

    • 22 June 2011 13:07 PM
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    Everyone I know that works in property or a related job goes on RightMove every day at least once. These figures are not a true reflection of those in the market place looking to buy, sell or rent at all. Fact.

    Property Porn indeed.

    • 22 June 2011 12:50 PM
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    Could be agents with nothing else to do!

    • 22 June 2011 11:19 AM
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    I just can't get the image of Vic Reeves rubbing his thighs out of my head whilst drooling over a female guest...

    Property Porn indeed.

    As an agent, I am guilty of doing it where I live and where I work....

    ;->

    • 22 June 2011 10:57 AM
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    Location, Location, Location, Homes Under The Hammer etc etc

    Property has been porn for a while!

    • 22 June 2011 10:23 AM
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    Property is the new porn? Voyeurs, indeed.

    I do chuckle.

    • 22 June 2011 10:12 AM
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    There are a lot of voyeurs, time passers and people looking for deals on there....

    • 22 June 2011 09:58 AM
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    I check Rightmove frequently to gauge what levels prices are back to in my region (and others). The Price Comparison Report often reveal what people last paid for a place and round my way (West Mids) vendors have cut asking prices back to 2004 sold figures. In real terms, this is equal to 2003 prices. And still most of those properties sit there unsold.

    Zoopla's Market Data also compares prices in a postcode to where they were at three months, six months, 12 months, three years and five years ago. A lot of insight into current market conditions there too.

    • 22 June 2011 09:44 AM
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    @FTBDan or If they own a property they are checking to see if there is any equity in it. This is because they are worrying about their mortgages coming to the end of the fixed rate deals.

    • 22 June 2011 09:38 AM
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    Agree - in Jan/early Feb you get the "I am just looking as in no hurry" brigade however still getting this now at end of June! Looking but thats all.

    • 22 June 2011 09:35 AM
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    I can easily answer the question of why so many people are visiting the portals while volumes are dragging along the floor. It’s because there are many millions of first time buyers locked out of the market over the last five years who are web savvy and are watching their area to get a feel for them so they are ready when the market crashes. All the time prices are ‘romping away from reality’ most will do no more than look.

    • 22 June 2011 09:11 AM
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