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

Breaking Property News 20/10/26

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Rightmove’s £1.45bn forty minute lawsuit Thought leadership by Olivier Jauniaux Founder of NestLink ‘It takes about forty minutes to find a house on Rightmove according to the portal’s own disclosure. You set the filters, you scroll, you save three, you send one to your partner with the…
Read More →
Breaking News

The six shocking ways first-time buyers are being caught out

Unexpected costs hit 70% of first-time buyers, causing rising anxiety for almost a third of people Over 60% of buyers also face mortgage rejection when finding their dream home Solicitor delays and “waiting around” among the highest drivers of anxiety and stress The First Time Buyer Anxiety Index 2026 delves into the main pain points…
Read More →
Breaking News

FTBs reveal real cost of homeownership

Six in 10 first-time buyers say getting onto the property ladder came at the expense of their quality of life From holidays and hobbies to careers and starting a family, first-time buyers reveal the true cost of homeownership New research by Yopa has revealed that 61% of first-time buyers say saving for their first home had…
Read More →
Breaking News

Supply of family-suitable homes falls across the nation

England is facing a growing shortage of large family homes, according to new analysis from UK Property Development (UKPD), creating increasing challenges for buyers leaving London in search of more space, better quality of life, and access to one of the capital’s most desirable commuter regions. UKPD analysed live property listings data* and found that,…
Read More →
Breaking News

84% of agents fear Autumn Budget anti-climax

Agents welcome first-time buyer support but 84% fear Autumn Budget housing anti-climax The latest industry insight from GetAgent.co.uk has revealed that estate agents believe first-time buyers are most in need of government support and, while the recent announcement of a new first-time buyer scheme will likely be welcomed by the industry, 84% are sceptical as…
Read More →
how to present your property for sale
Estate Agent Talk

The Budget – Residential Property

Thoughts from Lisa Wilson, Partner at law firm Spencer West LLP: “Chancellor John Healey, as many Chancellors before him, has the unenviable task of achieving balance in UK taxation and spending. Whilst there have been a few property rumours in the press, they are notably quieter than in years gone by. Over the Summer months…
Read More →