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Latest property news
ZPG says its vendor leads have surged by a third
ZPG has revealed that the number of vendor leads it has passed on to its agent customers has increased by a third just days after OnTheMarket announced it is to raise £50 via a flotation on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM. The company, which operates Zoopla and PrimeLocation, the UK’s second and third largest property portals in the UK by the number of agents listed on its sites and traffic, says it has so far sent 300,000 vendor leads and over 13.7 million applicant leads to its members so far this year. This, ZPG claims, has created fees for its member agents worth £225m. But although the company claims the pick-up is largely down to its online home valuation tools, the increase in vendor leads is also an early signal that the UK sales market may be picking up. Leads from vendors seeking an agent to sell their home increased by 31% compared to the first six months of last year, ZPG says. “[ZPG] continues to generate more appraisal leads than any other website as a result of [our] unique valuation tools,” says Mark Goddard, Managing Director of ZPG’s Property division. “We continue to deliver the best value and most…
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Latest property news
Hundreds of agents go back to ZPG
ZPG, owner of Zoopla and PrimeLocation, reports that over 800 estate agency branches have left Onthemarket (OTM) to re-join ZPG over the past two years.
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Latest property news
OnTheMarket wins claim against Gascoigne Halman in long-awaited tribunal decision
OnTheMarket has won the Competition Appeal Tribunal case it brought against Gascoigne Halman after the agent, following its acquisition in October 2015 by Connells, refused to abide by OnTheMarket’s ‘one other portal rule’. After the ruling OnTheMarket Chief Executive Ian Springett (pictured, below) accused Zoopla of funding the action, and also said that he intended to recoup legal and other court costs from Gascoigne Halman, particularly so because “the manner in which our opponents conducted the case has caused us to divert considerable resources and management time”. Gascoigne Halman said during the hearings that its contract with OnTheMarket was in effect void because what it believed are restrictive clauses within it were in breach of Section 2 of the Competition Act 1988. These include the ‘one other portal rule’ which requires participating agents to only use two property portals, the ‘bricks and mortar rule’ prohibiting online agents from joining OnTheMarket, and the ‘exclusive promotion rule’ that prevents agents from promoting their membership of Rightmove or Zoopla. The legal process was triggered when Gascoigne Halman listed its properties on all three property portals in defiance of OnTheMarket. OnThemarket subsequently sought a judgement on the matter through the tribunal system to prove…
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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
Newspaper giant fights back against portals
The UK’s largest regional newspaper and digital publisher Trinity Mirror, is to “fight back” against the increasing slice of agent marketing spend taken by Rightmove and Zoopla.
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Latest property news
Cluttons re-joins ZPG from OnTheMarket.com
Leading London agent Cluttons has left OnTheMarket.com and re-joined Zoopla just weeks after being saved from going into administration by turnaround specialist RCapital. It had been reported that Cluttons had been struggling with the severe slump in central London’s prime markets, which has seen the number of properties being sold in the capital halve over the past year or more. It has also been hit by a huge pension fund deficit recently. Cluttons went into pre-pack administration in early May, a legal move that enables any struggling UK business to be bought before going into administration. Significant restructuring During the process Cluttons has said it is to go through a “significant restructuring” and Steve Morgan, its young chief executive, is understood to still hold equity in the business alongside RCapital. As part of the overhaul of the business, the 250-year-old company and its six branches in the UK re-joined Zoopla at the end of May and, Zoopla says, gained 100 leads across its office network during the first 24 hours. Cluttons used to have a further three branches in Belgravia, Clapham and Blackheath, but these have been closed with the loss of 19 jobs. “We’re pleased to be with ZPG,”…
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Over 800 OnTheMarket agents have returned to ZPG, says Goddard
ZPG has today claimed that 808 branches have returned to its portals over the past two years from rival OnTheMarket.com since Agents Mutual launched it in 2015. And ZPG senior figure Mark Goddard (pictured, left), who heads up its Property Services division, has gone on the attack, saying that agents who spend their marketing budgets on OnTheMarket are doing so “inefficiently”. Recent returnees include 16 agency branches which ZPG says have moved over during the past week, helping increase its returning total by 58 since it last reported on its attempt to persuade agents back from OnTheMarket. This was within its 24th May half-year results. “We do not comment on individual agent relationships but the facts remain the same as they did last week when Zoopla gave a similar update,” says Ian Springett, Chief Executive of Agents’ Mutual (pictured, right). “OnTheMarket.com continues to have a positive material impact on the property portals landscape.” “Many thousands of agents switched from Zoopla/Primelocation to join us. Many thousands of agents continue to support the objectives of the business by creating a genuine alternative portal for consumers and agents alike. Many thousands of agents have not returned to ZPG portals with their advertising budgets…
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Gary Lineker joins Zoopla to back home insurance disruptor Neos
Neos, the home insurance digital disruptor backed by ZPG that believes it is the “‘future of insurance” has raised a further £5 million in a round of funding lead by insurance giant Aviva but also including TV presenter Gary Lineker (pictured, right). The company was set up by Matt Poll, a former MoreThan executive with automation expert Krystian Zajac. It offers home owners real-time updates about their property on their smartphone as well as access to a 24-7 emergency assistance team. “In a fantastic move for Neos that will guarantee our major growth over the next year,” says Matt (pictured, left). “The new investment will let us not only develop our connected home systems but also grow our underwriting capacity, through an MGA agreement with Munich Re.” Lineker was also part of an initial round of angel investors in the company in October 2016 and has made several successful previous investments in other insurance-based start-ups. Strategic investment In November last year Neos announced that ZPG had made a ‘strategic investment’ in the company, which offers an app-based home insurance service coupled to home monitoring and fire and water leak prevention hardware, including home sensors and HD cameras. ZPG, which made its investment…
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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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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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