Zoopla membership at three-year high after 1,000 new ...

Zoopla has added over 1,000 branches since lockdown began in March, taking total membership of offices and new homes to a three year high of over 18,000.

The portal says the growth comes as the industry prepares for a busier-than-usual festive period with a pipeline 50 per cent larger than this time last year.

It says some 100,000 sales set to spill over into the first three months of next year with “agents are aligning themselves with Zoopla to take maximum advantage of this.”

Against a backdrop of the soon-to-launch Boomin portal and a glut of free-to-list sites which have increased their profile this year, Andy Marshall - Zoopla’s chief commercial officer - says: “It’s a competitive time for portals but what’s clear is more and more agents are choosing Zoopla as their partner of choice as they seek to capitalise on the buoyant housing market.

“Agents are driven by results and our track record of delivering improvements in product and technology, combined with our record investments in marketing and customer service are paying dividends, driving better, higher quality leads.

“We’re perfectly placed to support agents during this busiest pre-Christmas period for a decade and we’ve no doubt increasing numbers will continue to vote with their feet as we head into what promises to be a bumper New Year for the agent community.”

The portal’s announcement about its membership numbers has been accompanied by a testimonial from Ben Hudson, managing director of Hudson Moody, a Yorkshire agency that has recently joined Zoopla.

He says: “Zoopla is a good fit for us as they are professional, they offer a deep understanding of the market and its trends, and they have a real appreciation of what agents need. Zoopla is straightforward, easy to use, and allows customers to get what they require quickly and easily. They also offer solid market insights that help buyers to make informed decisions.”

OnTheMarket has also issued a statement citing agents on its platform.

Ed Hartshorne, who owns Blenkin & Co in York, says OTM’s ‘New & exclusive’ feature is its trump card and he is surprised more agents don’t use it.

“Buyers are now becoming savvy to ‘New & exclusive’ and if you can give them 24, 48 or even 72 hours of that exclusivity, we have found that houses sell off the back of it. I think this is a huge reason to join OnTheMarket and it certainly works for me” he says.