“Property Portals” what’s new for 2015.

When we speak about Property Portals who do we automatically think about?…Rightmove..Zoopla…Primelocation..and probably in that order, most agents would agree that the top spot is a straight contest between Rightmove and Zoopla.

Different agents have their different reasons for choosing the portal most suitable to their marketing strategy and the region they cover, agents do feel more and more that they are at the mercy of a duopoly when choosing a property portal to advertise their properties.
Well, agents will have another choice as from January 2015, Agents Mutual will be launching their new service OnTheMarket.com, it will be the most serious challenger to the likes of Rightmove, Zoopla and others in recent years.

More and more estate and lettings agents all over the UK are deciding to move the advertising of their properties away from one or other of the current portal leaders and to display them all at OnTheMarket.com.
As the portal wars hot up Rightmove have come out and offered the technical specifications for its Real-time Data Feed (RTDF) free of charge to rival portals. It means the Rightmove version which allows a property to be launched within minutes could be accepted as the industry standard. This move by Rightmove appears perfectly timed, Rightmove is currently the only property portal that offers sales and lettings agents RTDF.

As each day passes we are getting closer and closer to the Launch of OnTheMarket.com and it will be very interesting over the coming months to see how it all plays out, who will be the winners and losers in this war? As long as the agents and their clients benefit by way of a more effecient service at reduced cost everyone should be happy, I do not expect in anyway that the top three property portals will give in that easy, watch for big changes in 2015.

Allen Walkey

Highly experienced businessman with a successful career in property sales and investment both in the UK and abroad. Now a freelance writer and blogger for the property and Investment Industry, keeping readers up-to-date with changes and events in a rapidly changing world.

You May Also Enjoy

Estate Agent Talk

Commonhold White Paper – Thoughts from the Industry

The sale of new leasehold flats in England and Wales is to be banned under Labour’s plan to end the  ‘feudal’ system. Labour wants to switch to Scotland’s commonhold system There are around 5 million leaseholders in England and Wales. Under commonhold, each flat owner would own the freehold of their home, but also have…
Read More
Breaking News

Greenpeace Ruling Exposes UK Government Policy

In January 2025, Greenpeace brought a collective action against the Dutch state for failing to comply with a 2018 European Court of Justice ruling on nutrient neutrality. An appeal is expected: however, as the UK Government has adopted the same ‘tax builders for pollution others cause’ approach to reducing nutrient pollution, it may find itself…
Read More
Love or Hate Rightmove
Breaking News

Rightmove commentary on mortgage market + weekly tracker

Commenting on the mortgage market, Rightmove’s expert Matt Smith said: “The market has settled after the unexpectedly high inflation figure. Average mortgage rates on many products have trickled downwards, and we’ve even seen the return of some eye-grabbing sub-4% mortgage rates for those with the biggest deposits. It shows that mortgage lenders are still keen to…
Read More
Breaking News

Government plans to ban new leasehold flats

With the Government’s plans to ban new leasehold flats, an expert says the system must be ready to cope. With the news that Government is to outline plans to ban new leasehold flats and adopt commonhold, with draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill to be published later this year, Scott Goldstein, Partner, Payne Hicks Beach,…
Read More
bank of england interest rate
Breaking News

Bank of England Money and Credit Report – January 2025

Overview These monthly statistics on the amount of, and interest rates on, borrowing and deposits by households and businesses are used by the Bank’s policy committees to understand economic trends and developments in the UK banking system. Key points: Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals rose by £0.9 billion, to £4.2 billion in January.…
Read More
Breaking News

Right to Manage: changes to legislation come into effect on Monday

On Monday 3 March further provisions within the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 come into force, including Section 49 which concerns the change of non-residential limit on Right to Manage (RTM) claims. This secondary legislation will mean that residential leaseholders within a mixed-use scheme will qualify for RTM when the commercial element of a…
Read More