Rightmove, Primelocation, FindaProperty

Our inside sources have leaked a rumour that the Daily Mail Group (DMGT) is planning on merging Primelocation and FindaProperty (both owned by them) into a single site.  No word yet on which they’ll prefer, but it’s definitely a smart move.  My guess is it’s FindaProperty.  Currently agents have to pay independently for each site, something that looks like a rip-off in the wake of the PropertyFinder and HotProperty merger.  PropertyFinder announced that agents will appear on both sites for a single fee, and now DMGT is under pressure to follow suit. Stay tuned for more. 

Rightmove competitor PropertyFinder is owned by News Corp and REA Group (RealEstate.com.au). The Big Question is: will REA expand to US? Here’s a recent interview with the CEO of REA, Simon Baker:

Competition is heating up in the property search space, with PropertyFinder buying HotProperty for £5.6 million. The acquisition should add another 170,000 listings to PropertyFinder’s database, still a far cry from Rightmove’s coverage.PropertyFinder was bought by News Corporation  and RealEstate.com.au for £14 million in 2005.  In January this year, PropertyFinder appointed a new CEO, former head of MSN UK - Gillian Kent.

Rightmove has released its new House Price Index for February 2008.  The average residential home price in the UK is now £237,856, up 3.2% in the last month.  Is this the end of the housing recession?  At the same time, the average time on the market has peeked at over 90 days.  The full report is here.

Leading property portals: Rightmove, Primelocation, FindaProperty & Propertyfinder are all looking to increase their user numbers in 2008. Will anyone be able to challenge Rightmove as the market leader? Seems like nobody is expecting to take the number one spot, however everyone is hoping for an increase in online advertising spent due in the current downturn of the property market.
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Rightmove has recently redesigned the site. Personally I don’t see much difference. While the look & feel has been slightly improved, functionality is exactly the same. Let me know what you think in your comments.

Rightmove is the largest UK real-estate portal, listing 800,000 properties for sale and rent throughout England, Scotland and Wales. It features 8 of the 10 largest estate agency groups in the UK. Founded in 2000 by three of UK’s biggest estate agents - Connells, Countrywide, Halifax, Rightmove has better coverage in the regions than in London. Unfortunately it does not allow for-sale-by-owner listings, unlike many other sites.

[Read the full review →]

Primelocation.com is one of the oldest property sites in the UK. It was launched back in 2001 by a collective of over 200 independent estate agents who saw that the future of real estate would be in the internet. Over the years it has become one of the most visited property listings sites in the UK with over 1.5 million visits per month and over 3,000 contributing agents.

[Read the full review →]

Launched in 1997 by Hallmark Projects, FindaProperty is now owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. The portal is extremely strong in the London and South East, and has a greater focus on editorial than other property portals.

[Read the full review →]

Homes & Property is an Evening Standard rebranded version of findaproperty.com. The site is simple and quite easy to navigate, with results which are of average quality.

[Read the full review →]