BREAKING: Rightmove extends discounted fees until end of September as agent numbers dip

After June Rightmove agents will pay a reduced fee rather than get a 75% discount, levels of which will depend on whether they trade in Scotland, Wales or England.

Brooks Johnson Rightmove image

Rightmove is extending its reduced-fees period by two months and has also revealed that its advertiser numbers have declined overall by 3.8% since January.

The portal says it wants to give agents time to build their pipelines and this will take at least another three months.

Its English customers will be given a 60% fee reduction during August and a 40% reduction for September. Customers in Wales and Scotland will get a 75% reduction during the first month and a 60% reduction in September. This will cost the portal between £17m and £20m, it reckons.

“I continue to be impressed by the ingenuity of our customers to continue operating in difficult circumstances and I thank them for the wealth of ideas which have inspired our recent innovations,” says Rightmove CEO Peter Brooks-Johnson (pictured, above).

“I’m encouraged by the strong bounce back in home hunter demand since 13 May as England starts to move again and we look forward to welcoming our Scottish and Welsh customers back to the market.

Agent numbers down

But Rightmove’s agent numbers have taken a pummelling this year, dipping by 3.8% to 19,054. This is a loss of 620 agents and 135 developers, which the portal blames on the pandemic and Purplebricks reducing its number of ‘virtual branches’ territories by some 300 locations.

The portal says traditional estate agency numbers are down by only 2% since the beginning of the year.

“I‘m immensely proud of the dedication and resilience shown by our employees throughout our business in responding to the challenging circumstances presented by the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Brooks-Johnson, who says all its furloughed mainly customer service staff will return to work by the end of July.

Rival OTM has also extended its scheme. Read more. 

 

 

 


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