Marketing
News covering the marketing of residential property, lead generation, buying and selling and business development.
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Revealed: how Viewber’s pricing and agent payments work
Details of how Viewber, the outsourced property viewing company, works have been revealed within an article published by a national newspaper today. Daily Mail online property reporter Myra Butterworth (pictured, below) turned sleuth and signed up to join Viewber even though, apart from writing about property, she has no experience as either an estate agent or of showing people around properties. Myra’s report on how she fared as a Viewber agent make for amusing reading – particualry as she locked herself out of the building for her first appointment – but do reveal more details of how the Viewber model works. Ed Mead, one of the co-founders of Viewber and to date its main spokesperson, has always been keen not to give too many details away about its service, but the Daily Mail article does. Viewber expects agents to turn up 15 minutes prior to a viewing to ensure the property is showcased in the best possible light. In Myra’s case she was also hand-held by an employee from agent Aucoot, which was established last year by a former sales director from upmarket agent The Modern House, John McDavid. But in most cases agents will be flying solo. Bank account…
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Six reasons why Rightmove domination of market could soon end
Rightmove domination of the UK property could be about to end as its faces threats from multiple sources, says leading proptech blogger James Dearsley (pictured, below). He and his colleagues at PropTech Consult have looked at Rightmove and say the company has all the characteristics of a successful company that could lose its market-leading position. The consultants’ report says this includes Rightmove being at the end of its original growth strategy; having a large customer database; and delivering excellent returns for investors, including dividends per share that have risen from 22p in 2012 to 51p today. Needs to act Despite this apparently dazzling success, James says Rightmove now needs to act and start a second period of innovation to prevent its dominant position being eroded in the “medium to long term”. The main reasons for this include: The increasing number of new digital opportunities for agents making them less reliant on Rightmove for leads; Rightmove’s failure to develop new products or services beyond its core search facility; The rise of online agents such as Purplebricks who may become as well-known online as Rightmove; Contracting profitability among high street agents restricting Rightmove’s ability to increase revenue; The rising power of Zoopla and its bid…
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Trinity Mirror launches campaign to take on portals for agent spend
The UK’s largest regional newspaper and digital publisher Trinity Mirror says it is to “fight back” against the increasing slice of agent marketing spend being taken by Rightmove and Zoopla. Trinity Mirror has over 140 regional daily and weekly newspapers across the UK including big hitters such as the Manchester Evening News, Birmingham Mail and Bristol Post plus 80 websites. It is also publisher of the Daily and Sunday Mirror and three other national newspapers. The campaign is designed to persuade agents that Trinity Mirror’s online and print titles are the best way to ensure they are one of the ‘three’ that vendors and landlords traditionally ask to appraise their properties before deciding on which one to instruct. Campaign message Called #Be1ofthe3, the campaign message is that the major portals “don’t want agents’ brands to stand out – it’s not good for their business model – so they suppress them”. “Agents need to consider other forms of marketing to build their brand presence in the regions they operate within,” the campaign material says. Trinity Mirror, which bought rival regional publisher Local World in 2015 for £220m to make it the largest regional media company in the UK, says its titles reach…
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Company landlords surge to take a fifth of the market
The number of company landlords has increased by 6% over the past three months to a record 20% of the market, it has been revealed by Countrywide. The figure is the highest proportion recorded by the company since it began collecting data seven years ago. The punishing reductions in tax allowances that began being phased in earlier this month, as well as the recent extra Stamp Duty for buy-to-let properties are leading many landlords to bring their properties into a limited company structure. “Companies are generally taxed more favourably, particularly with recent changes by government to tax relief, so in many cases landlords can make cash savings by operating through a company rather than as an individual,” says Johnny Morris, Research Director at Countrywide (pictured, left). The trend is clearest in London where Countrywide says 27% of rental properties are owned by a company landlord, he says. Top and bottom The figures also reveal that the increase in company landlords is most evident at the top of the market, and at the bottom. This would suggest that large-portfolio landlords who own multiple properties in the poorer parts of the UK, and the those who own prime rental properties, are behind…
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Zoopla TV ad gets its claws into the property market
The new Zoopla TV ad has been released. And it’s got legs. Plenty of them. And the stars are hermit crabs with model homes stuck to their backs. Hermit crabs, it seems, are the only creatures that move house more than humans. Rather than struggle with the elements on Brighton beach in January, Zoopla’s ad agency 101 enlisted the help of David Attenborough’s director of photography Doug Allan and trekked to Costa Rica to find appropriately qualified and one assumes, Equity-licensed actors to star in the film. Zoopla’s Chief Marketing Officer Gareth Helm says: “This is an exciting moment for the Zoopla brand, which has long been associated with helping consumers to make smarter choices when it comes to moving home. “We are looking forward to revealing our fresh take on the topic and to showing how even the house-moving experts of the animal world – who, quite literally, carry their homes on their backs – can benefit from all the tools and advice that Zoopla has to offer. “The launch of our new campaign and the use of hermit crabs, who themselves are moving experts, provides an ideal platform to talk more about the evolution of Zoopla. We expect…
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Spark Energy announced as sponsor of The Negotiator Awards 2017
The Negotiator Awards always launches with a bang and this year we are delighted to announce that we have a new headline sponsor – Spark Energy. Entry to the Awards is now open – it’s the only awards programme for estate and letting agents that has no entry fee and as such is truly inclusive, making winning a Negotiator Award the most prestigious accolade an agent can receive. It provides the most powerful of marketing tools to drive your business. You can find out all you need to enter, with full guidance notes, by going to: www.thenegotiatorawards.co.uk The winners of The Negotiator Awards 2017 will be announced at The London Hilton on Park Lane at a black tie gala dinner on 31st October 2017. Spark brings even more energy to the UK’s largest and most respected property Awards.” Announcing the partnership, Awards Director, Sheila Manchester (right) said, “Spark brings even more energy to the UK’s largest and most respected property Awards. “We are delighted to welcome them as our headline sponsor. Once the serious process of judging is completed by our expert independent panel, we look forward to the most exciting event in residential property agency. We’re planning a sparkling evening and…
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City analyst names agents involved in portal juggling
A leading City analyst has released an incendiary report into portal juggling, warning investors that many agents including dozens of high street names use it to appear busier than they are on Rightmove. Well-known names on the lists include many of the UK’s high profile agents including Countrywide, Foxtons, Chancellors, Humberts and Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward while the online-only and hybrids agents highlighted include HouseSimple, eMoov, Yopa, Purplebricks and Tepilo. The report, which was compiled with the help of Robert May’s Rummage4 software, also reveals that although portal juggling is widespread across the industry, it is more prevalent among hybrids than traditional agents. Research by Jefferies Group LLP, which has 3,300 employees and offices in 30 cities across the world, reveals that although hybrid agents have 4% of the market, they account for nearly a third of the top 50 juggled properties. Of all agents that have juggled ten or more properties, hybrid agents account for 41% of all juggles while traditional agents, who have 96% of the market, account for 59% of juggles. The Jefferies report also reveals that Purplebricks has a sale agreed/listing ratio of 89.5% in contrast with Countrywide’s 60.2%, LSL’s 50.6% and Foxtons’ 48.8%, and asks…
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Rightmove shares slide as agents grumble
Rightmove announced full year results on Friday 24th February, reporting further success. Pre-tax profits rose from £137.1m in 2015 to £161.5m in 2016, up by almost 18 per cent. Revenues rose by 15 per cent to £220m. So why, on that day, did their shares slide down a steep hill – down 5.8 per cent to £40, wiping over £200 million off its value? Rightmove Chairman, Scott Forbes said, “Our audience, best in class platforms and significant property inventory advantage coupled with our focus on innovation at the core of our business drives our value proposition for the benefit of both our trade customers and consumers. Property data has always been at the core of what we do and we are excited about continuing to harness the power of our data to drive further transparency and efficiency in the property market, predict market opportunities and drive success for our customers and consumers.” There’s no doubt that Rightmove is doing well for its investors, so it is possible that the fall was due to the announcement of Nick McKittrick’s (pictured right) forthcoming retirement, as the national papers deduced, but could there also be growing unrest among Rightmove’s 20,121 Agency and New Homes customers? RIGHTMOVE…
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Rightmove tells agents: Get the price right to sell homes quickly
Following last week’s report from Which? on overpricing homes, Rightmove says that agents must get the price right to avoid deterring price-sensitive buyers. Rightmove reports that the price of property has increased by just 2.0 per ent (+£5,986), the smallest price rise at this time of year since February 2009; well below the average +5.0 per cent February uplift over the previous seven years. This contributes to a further slowing in the pace of price rises, with the annual rate of +2.3 per cent being the lowest since April 2013. Miles Shipside, Rightmove director said, “While the prices of goods in shops are rising at a faster rate, the pace of price rises in property coming to the market is slowing. They’re still 2.3 per cent higher than a year ago, but perhaps we’re approaching the territory where many buyers are unable or unwilling to pay what sellers are asking, given the negative combination of rises in the cost of living, tighter lending criteria, and a dose of Brexit uncertainty. The housing market has had a long sprint since April 2013 when the annual rate was last below this level, so it’s not surprising that upwards price pressure is running on tired legs…
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Zoopla claims 700 branches have now returned from OTM
Zoopla parent company ZPG has today claimed that over 100 branches who initially left for OnTheMarket have returned to it since October, bringing the total number of returnees to 700. The company says recent returnees have included a clutch of multi-branch agents (see list below) and that the number of total property listings on its two sites (Zoopla and Primelocation) has increased by 10% compared to a year ago. Bacon & Co, (West Sussex) – 5 branches Jeanes Holland Burnell (mid-Somerset) – 3 branches Belvoir (Central London) – 1 branch Porter Glenny (Barking) – 4 branches Dixon & Co. (Stafford) – 2 branches Reid & Roberts (North Wales) – 3 branches Roberts & Co. (South East Wales) – 11 branches Sheens (Essex) – 2 branches Hodders (Surrey) – 4 branches Corrie & Co. (Cumbria) – 3 branches Loveitts (Midlands) – 5 branches Ian Odam of Somerset agency Jeanes Holland Burnell (pictured, left), says that in January 2015 he decided to join OnTheMarket after leaving ZPG. “After two years of supporting the OTM project we felt unable to sustain the membership with them any longer as we believed we were missing out by not listing our stock with ZPG,” he says. “In…
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