Property Portals What Is The True Value For Estate Agents?

Many are questioning the real return on investment for portals, Homehere have done some deep analytics on the subject and set out below is their findings based on a sample group.

New HOMEHERE report reveals disparity in value for money and lead conversion rates from online property portals

1. Research found less than 3% of all leads from property portals converted to sale or let

2. Report analysed nearly 25,000 email enquiries and 9,000 telephone calls from UK estate agents over a six-month period

A new independent report, written by digital property lead software company Homehere, has found disparity in lead quality and value for money between online property portals.

The report analysed the sales, lettings and valuation leads from estate agents around the UK all of whom had subscriptions to Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket from July 2020 to January 2021.

The research found that Zoopla offered the best value for money per converted lead with an average cost of £83.92, while OnTheMarket cost per lead was almost double the price at £161.76. Rightmove’s cost per converted lead came out as £112.15.

When tracking all incoming leads and their outcomes, none of the portals achieved more than 3% success. The researcher found that Rightmove converted 2.65% of leads into a sale or rental, Zoopla 1.9% and OnTheMarket just 1%.

Valuation leads also showed a big difference between the portals, with Rightmove delivering 54% of all email valuation leads to participating agents, Zoopla 43% and OnTheMarket just 3%.

Founder of Homehere, the digital lead conversion system designed for estate agents, Lou Quinn said: “’We’ve published this data to bring some transparency to the ongoing conversation around portal performance.

“What we found was surprising. Areas that we thought the portals would be stronger in, such as valuation leads, actually aren’t, with very few of them actually converting to instructions.

“The number of late leads – those that arrive after a property has been taken off the market – was also something that we were shocked at. The research revealed a massive difference between portals, with OnTheMarket reporting 40% of late leads compared to 6% from Zoopla and 5% from Rightmove.”

Lou explained: “The data suggests that there’s areas that the portals can improve on, maybe focusing more on quality over quantity. As our customer base grows, we plan to issue a quarterly industry report which will hopefully make it easier for agents to see which channels are generating the most value for them.”

A full downloadable copy of the property portal research can be found here: http://zpr.io/RR3FX

Andrew Stanton

CEO & Founder Proptech-PR. Proptech Real Estate Influencer, Executive Editor of Estate Agent Networking. Leading PR consultancy in Proptech & Real Estate.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

UK Construction Sector Activity Remains Stagnant

Glenigan’s data shows construction sector performance is depressed in a tough socio-economic landscape The value of underlying (under £100 million) work starting on-site during the three months to the end of July declined 11% and fell 29% below last year’s levels. Residential construction starts fell sharply, declining 25% against the preceding three months and dropping…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Seven fire safety myths every business should avoid

Fire safety is one of those responsibilities that often doesn’t receive the attention it deserves – until something goes wrong, that is. For many businesses, compliance has fallen into the trap of being a tick-box exercise that’s centred around annual inspections, manual training exercises, and having the right paperwork in place. And although these are…
Read More
Breaking News

Suzy Lamplugh’s legacy underlines the need to always make lone-worker safety a priority

More than 40 years after estate agent Suzy Lamplugh disappeared while attending a work appointment, her legacy remains a powerful reminder that personal safety must be central to workplace practices. On 28 July 1986, 25-year-old Suzy Lamplugh left her London office for an appointment and never returned. Her disappearance led her parents, Diana and Paul…
Read More
Breaking News

Prime London sellers return to market

The latest analysis from Beham and Reeves has found that the number of homes listed for sale at £2m or above across Prime Central London increased during the second quarter of 2026, although performance continues to vary considerably between the capital’s most prestigious neighbourhoods.   Benham and Reeves analysed current Prime Central London property listings…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

What to know when buying land

The closure of UK Land & Farms (UKLAF) has left a significant gap in the UK’s specialist land market with buyers and sellers now forced to adapt after 18 years of relying on UKLAF as the cornerstone of the industry. As interest in land continues to grow, the company says the closure also serves as…
Read More
Letting Agent Talk

Tenant demand strong, landlord supply shrinking

New RICS data shows tenant demand at its strongest in over a year – while landlord supply keeps shrinking. That’s not bad luck. It’s a trust problem, and it’s fixable. “These numbers should be good news for landlords. Demand is the strongest it’s been in over a year. Instead, they are deciding to head for…
Read More