OTM
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Latest property news
OnTheMarket visits rise as Zoopla goes on the buses
Eight million visits recorded in June – an increase of 33 per cent since January, says CEO Ian Springett.
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Features
The battle for North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire has become a battleground for dominance among the portals, says Nigel Lewis.
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Latest property news
On The Market battle grows as Action Group is formed
The first meeting of the OnTheMarket (OTM) Action Group, run by Iain White, took place yesterday (Monday 9th May), with attendance from 100 OTM members who have given notice to OTM and received threats of legal action, along with others who would like to leave the portal but have not yet resigned. The group later issued a statement saying, “The estate agents believe they were misled by Agents Mutual, the owner of the OnTheMarket property portal, over promises made on joining that their subscription fees would always be equal to, or lower than, members who joined at a later date. It has now been suggested that, instead, Agents Mutual have in fact been offering subscriptions at a much lower price, disadvantaging earlier members. Iain White (left), consultant to the estate agency industry who organised the meeting, said, “More than 200 estate agents representing businesses across the length and breadth of the UK have registered their interest in taking action against Agents Mutual. There are a lot of aggrieved property professionals who consider that they have been unfairly treated by Agents Mutual. “On Monday morning our information session in Central London was full. The level of outrage among Agents Mutual members…
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Latest property news
OnTheMarket is not going off, says CEO
One of last week’s noisier stories in the press and on social media was about OnTheMarket members and theo pen letter from the Competition and Markets Authority(CMA). Ian Springett (left), CEO, OnTheMarket (Agents Mutual)defended the portal’s position and its status with the CMA, asking Jungledrums to remind estate agents about their obligations under competition law when choosing online property portals to advertise their properties. “The CMA has been very clear in cautioning agents to act independently and not to collude. At OnTheMarket.com, we welcome that stance and have consistently given agents precisely the same advice to make any portal selection decisions independently. “For the record, there has been no suggestion from the CMA that OnTheMarket.com has acted improperly in any way. Indeed, in its reminder letter to agents, the CMA explicitly states that, “it has no reason to write to OnTheMarket in this connection at this time.” OnTheMarket certainly needs to defend its position, Mr Springett said, “Success attracts its detractors. The letter from the CMA triggered some predictably opportunistic attacks on us from some who are perhaps sensitive to the impact we are having by injecting competition and increasing choice in a portals market dominated by two big listed…
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Latest property news
In other news – OnTheMarket signs new member!
Estate agency Goadsby which has offices across Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire, has joined OnTheMarket.com. The firm – which was established in 1958 – will now be listing all of its properties for sale and to rent at OnTheMarket.com. Goadsby will continue to advertise its properties on Rightmove as its ‘other portal’. OnTheMarket.com announced earlier this year that the level of overall support for the portal had risen beyond 6,500 estate and letting agent offices across the UK, which was an increase of more than 50 per cent since this time last year. The figure consists of contracted members and agents who have signed a Letter of Intent to join OnTheMarket.com when total support reaches 7,500 offices – which is OnTheMarket.com’s next major milestone. David Errington (left), Group Chief Executive of Goadsby, said, “We are keen to support OnTheMarket.com, the UK’s only agent-owned, agent-controlled portal. “OnTheMarket.com is an excellent portal which enables agents to present themselves and their instructed properties in the best possible way with no distracting non-property advertising or unhelpful information added. This is just one of the reasons we have chosen to join.” Ian Springett, Chief Executive of OnTheMarket.com, said: “We are extremely pleased to be welcoming a…
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Latest property news
OnTheMarket battles continue
It’s been a tortuous few weeks in the property industry, fears about online agents, portal battles, tax hikes and the EU Referendum have combined to make many property people just a bit jittery. Certain people are searching for a fall guy. And they’d like it to be a big one. OnTheMarket is one of the current bookies’ favourites for the role, as disappointed members (some saying 200 disappointed members) attempt to get out of their contracts without paying their fees. As if an internal ruck isn’t enough, coincidentally (or perhaps not) the Competition & Markets Authority, published a statement warning online property portals which prevent those listing homes on them from also listing on rival sites that they may be breaching competition law. One of the founding principles behind it was that any agent wishing to list properties on OnTheMarket would have to choose between either one of its rivals – meaning either Zoopla or Rightmove would lose out. Ann Pope (left) Senior Director, Antitrust, at the Competition and Markets Authority who has a holy name and a worrying title, wrote in an Open Letter to all estate agents that “when an estate agent makes a commercial decision about its…
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Latest property news
Rightmove website was not compromised, says portal
Rightmove has dismissed claims that its portal has been compromised after ITV London had claimed to have uncovered a new scam targeting renters in the capital. ITV issued a news report last week stating that the scam targets people who have been searching online for a place to rent in London. The news channel said that house-hunters receive an e-mail, claiming to be from a landlord they have already contacted who tells them an ideal property is still available, and available to view with an agent from Air BnB, but only after paying a hefty deposit. The report went on to state that it was not clear how the details are being harvested, but that many victims claimed that they received the e-mail after searching on Rightmove. But the UK’s leading property portal has responded to the report by insisting that it has carefully checked its website and found nothing wrong. “We received reports of two people being contacted by email from an unknown gmail account about a flat, which asks them to pay an upfront rental deposit via an AirBnB agent before they could view a property. We immediately investigated using all information provided to us and found no…
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Marketing
Rightmove grows in spite of OTM
Rightmove continues to hold a dominant position in the online property search market after increasing its market share to 77 per cent, up from 74 per cent a year ago, in spite of fresh competition from the arrival of OnTheMarket.com at the start of 2015. Recognising the fact that its website remains a must-see destination for buyers and renters, the number of agents listing on Rightmove rose by two per cent year-on-year to 19,752 over the year to the end of December. The rise in the volume of agents listing on the portal helped boost Rightmove’s revenue by 15 per cent to £192.1 million in 2015, while pre-tax profit was up 12 per cent to £137.1 million. In total, Rightmove attracted 1.3 billion visits to its website in 2015, up 18 per cent compared to a year earlier. Rightmove’s underlying operating margin also increased from 74.6 per cent a year ago to 75.1 per cent. This comes as a blow to its competitors, especially Agents’ Mutual, which had hoped to break Rightmove’s stronghold on the market with the launch of OnTheMarket. Zoopla announced last week that it also increased its agent members by one per cent to 12,841, indicating that…
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Marketing
Rightmove posts record traffic
Rightmove delivered more leads than ever before on the back of record online traffic in January, the company has revealed. More than 127 million people visited Rightmove last month, up almost 20 per cent compared to the corresponding month last year, and surpassing the previous record of 118 million set last August. The sharp increase in visits helped to ensure that email and phone enquiries to agents and developers hit a new record of over 4.9 million, up 15 per cent year-on-year. The latest data also confirms what many of us already know. We are a nation obsessed with property. Collectively people spent the equivalent of over 2,000 years browsing Rightmove in January, with the number of page views for the month hitting a new record of 1.7 billion. The most popular places people looked for a new home after London was Bristol, Cambridge and Milton Keynes. Miles Shipside (left), Rightmove Director, said, “These January statistics should give both sales and lettings agents confidence that an active year with plenty of business opportunities lies ahead. While January is usually a very busy month for home-hunting, the scale of these records shows just how habitual Rightmove has become when people are…
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Agencies & People
Big boost for OnTheMarket
Nottingham Estate Agency and Harrison Murray Estate Agency have announced their membership of OnTheMarket.com. Both part of the Nottingham Building Society, the two brands have a total of 37 branches. They will now be advertising all of their properties for sale and to rent at OnTheMarket.com and Rightmove. With more than 25 years’ experience as independent estate agents, Nottingham Estate Agency and Harrison Murray Estate Agency are amongst the largest regional estate agencies with offices in nine counties. OnTheMarket.com announced on Wednesday, January 14th, 2016 that the level of overall support for the portal had risen beyond 6,500 estate and letting agent offices across the UK, which is an increase of more than 50 per cent since this time last year. The announcement comes eight weeks after OnTheMarket.com revealed support had exceeded 6,000 offices. The figure consists of contracted members and agents who have signed a Letter of Intent to join OnTheMarket.com when total support reaches 7,500 offices – which is OnTheMarket.com’s next major milestone. Su Snaith (left), Head of Estate Agency at the Nottingham Estate Agency and Harrison Murray Estate Agency, said, “The achievements of OnTheMarket.com over the last year have been impressive. It is already established as a…
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