uSwitch
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Housing Market
More landlords set to use letting agencies as red tape and repairs headaches rise
Nearly a third of landlords cited ‘no longer having to deal with repairs’ as the main reason for the switching to using a letting agent.
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Latest property news
REPORT: Tenants reject responsibility for mould in rented properties
Two thirds of tenants say it is the landlord or letting agent who should fix mould problems, even when they may be contributing to the problem.
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Latest property news
Revealed: The property industry’s slowest (and fastest) websites
Uswitch says slow estate agency websites can significantly impact earning potential for firms that rely on referrals from third parties.
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Latest property news
UK’s terrible broadband service is laid bare by report
The extent of the UK's terrible broadband speeds has been revealed detailing how millions of homes suffer low speeds and are being rejected by home buyers.
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Supplier News
ZPG reports profits up by 41% before tax, helping sweeten Silverlake purchase
Property and comparison giant ZPG has seen revenue and profits increase dramatically over the past six months, it reports today.
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Latest property news
uSwitch to become ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent show main sponsor
ZPG has signed a deal with Simon Cowell to make its household bills comparison site uSwitch the headline sponsor of his ITV prime-time perennial Britain’s Got Talent (BGT). The deal, which was signed with both ITV, Syco Entertainment and FreemantleMedia, will see uSwitch’s creative run before and after all the ad breaks during the 12th series of the show, which kicks off on Saturday, April 14th. ZPG says this will be aimed at inspiring and motivating consumers to switch and save money off their household bills. Presented by Ant & Dec and featuring David Walliams, Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon, the BGT weekly shows are expected to pull in between 9.5 million and 13 million viewers. ZPG says the sponsorship deal, which is for an undisclosed sum, is the most expensive promotional agreement uSwitch has struck so far since it was founded in 2000 by Lord Milford Haven. BGT sponsors rarely reveal how much they pay to get into bed with Cowell’s TV juggernaut, but Dominos Pizza is reported to have spent £1 million in 2011 sponsoring another Cowell prime-time show, a short-lived roulette-based competition format called Red or Black? uSwitch advertises heavily on TV and other media…
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Latest property news
Would you pay £32 to look around the ZPG head office?
Would you pay £32 to be shows around the ZPG head office? That is the price being charged to participants in this year’s Workplace Week event this November, during which some of the UK’s more innovative and creative workplaces will be opening their doors. If you think this a bit much to see around the ZPG office, then be reassured that the entrance fee is to raise funds for the BBC’s Children in Need. It is the fourth year the event has run, during which – so far – a total of £100,000 has been raised. ZPG is one of 19 companies opening up their funky HQs to public inspection. Others include Tesco in Welwyn Garden City, the Mclaren supercar factory near Woking in Surrey, WWF’s ‘tree house’ also near Woking and Lloyds of London. ZPG’s 45,000 sq ft office, which the company moved into eight months ago, houses both Zoopla but also its other brands including uSwtich, PSG and PrimeLocation. Recently added companies Hometrack and ExpertAgent are still based in the original offices in Chelsea and Somerset respectively. The ZPG office, created by leading workplace design and fit-out company Maris, is in a courtyard building close to Tower Bridge…
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Latest property news
ZPG reveals record growth, 750 returning agents plus lettings and mortgage launches
ZPG has reported record results in its half year results for the six months ended 31st March. This includes revenues up by 22% to £117.9 million, and profits that have increased by £25 million. The company also says it has seen “accelerated win backs” from OnTheMarket.com and that over the past two years the number of agents returning to the fold now totals totals 750. Over the past six months ZPG has also grown its branches list by 6% to 14,271 and its inventory by 9% to 928,000 listings. This caps a busy year for the company which has been expanding its vertical integration through the industry with the acquisition of data firm Hometrack, which ZPG say now services 17 out of the top 20 banks, and agent software outfit ExpertAgent. But these acquisitions have cost it dearly – debt at ZPG is now £209.3 million, borrowing which has also reduced its profits for the six month period. Mortgages ZPG has also revealed that it now has a mortgages team, part of a plan to expand its presence in the home financial services market. Traffic to its website and apps grew by 5% to 314 million visits and the company also…
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Latest property news
OnTheMarket “diminished as a threat” says Zoopla boss
It was billed as the property website that would finally break the so-called duopoly between Rightmove and Zoopla, but OnTheMarket (OTM) is turning out to be a bit a damp squib, according to Alex Chesterman, Head of Zoopla Property Group (ZPG). Zoopla said that the number of agents on its books has increased in recent months as it posted better than expected full-year earnings. ZPG has announced a £25.4 million profit in the 12 months to September despite greater market competition from OTM which has increased its market share since launching in January, primarily at the expense of Zoopla. Zoopla had 12,702 agency partners at the end of September, compared to 16,373 a year earlier, largely as a consequence of OTM’s ‘one other portal’ rule requiring their member agents to stop advertising on either Rightmove or Zoopla with a view to winning greater market share. The rule hit Zoopla significantly harder than Rightmove, with client numbers falling sharply. But Zoopla report that they are now winning some of those customers back, with Chesterman insisting that OTM’s “threat is diminishing”. ZPG’s growth in revenue for the year ending 30th September has been supported by the group’s acquisition of home services comparison…
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Agencies & People
Zoopla sees ‘return to growth’
Zoopla is going from strength to strength thanks in part to its acquisition of comparison website uSwitch earlier this year, which is doing even better than expected, as well as a rise in estate agency customers. According to its latest trading update to the City, Zoopla, which earlier this year acquired online price comparison site uSwitch for £160million in a move designed to differentiate it from rivals Rightmove and OnTheMarket, has attracted a further 146 UK estate agents to its membership since July, contributing to growth in turnovers and profits. Zoopla has accepted that it lost business this year to challenger property website, OnTheMarket.com (OTM), but now insiststhat its UK agency membership is “continuing its return to growth.” Zoopla now has a total of 12,701 agency customers on its books, along with 2,706 new homes customers and 737 overseas members. Zoopla forecasts that full-year revenue will increase by a third to £107 million, with adjusted cash profit up by a fifth to £48 million. These optimistic projections are supported by the company’s decision to diversify its offering with its uSwitch acquisition, which has outperformed expectations, while its portal division was in line. There has been a positive reaction to Zoopla’s…
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