Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 11th September 2008
Overseas agents reject Rightmove
Nearly 300 votes were cast in our property portal survey this week and the results don’t make pleasant reading for UK market leader, Rightmove.
74.6% of overseas agents we surveyed said they don’t use Rightmove, with most citing high prices and doubts about cost per lead as reasons why not. Even more depressingly for the portal is the finding that, of the agents currently using them, only 43% said they would renew after their current contract expired. 35% planned to cancel and 21% were undecided.
Fragmented market
Although Rightmove does not fare well in the survey, it is important to put the results into context. As the table below demonstrates, the overseas property portal market is highly fragmented. Even Primelocation.com at the top of the list is only used by 31% of agents. Interestingly, one-man band, EuropeanProperty.com makes it into the top three, perhaps reflecting its good search positions and relatively low fixed yearly price. For a new entrant, PropertyIndex.com also does well, no doubt due to their large sales force and trade advertising budget. Newly launched APlaceInTheSun.com looks in good shape too, considering it is still in its beta (testing) phase.
20 most-used overseas property portals
“Popular” route to market
86.1% of agents say they use at least one portal in their marketing activity. However, there is very little agreement on which ones are the most effective. Many of the portals had almost equal numbers of agents advocating them as disparaging them, which is hardly surprising given the vast geographical spread of the locations our readers sell property in. What works for one agent in one area may not work for another! Interestingly a significant minority of agents say that portals in general produce a poor return on investment. The industry is clearly divided.
Survey insights
We asked agents to rate over 50 portals as well as to comment confidentially on which ones they thought were best and worst. There were a few interesting insights to come out of the research:
- Acquisition costs are clearly going up and lead quality going down. This is no doubt a consequence of tightening financial conditions and slowing property markets.
- The portals which divided opinion most were FindaProperty.com, Primelocation.com and Rightmove.co.uk. They work, but clearly not for everyone.
- The most universally positive responses for multi-country portals were for EuropeanProperty.com and Property-Abroad.com.
- In Spain, unsurprisingly the dedicated Spanish portals did best. Kyero.com, ThinkSpain.com and InSpain.tv were all very popular.
- Similarly in France, French Property Links and FrenchEntrée.com were most popular closely followed by Green-Acres.com and 1st-for-French-Property.co.uk.
- Agents in Spain and France are well catered for with dedicated country portals and have little time for general overseas portals.
- There are many country- and region-specific portals that we have never heard of. We will be working hard over the next few months to improve our coverage in markets which Simon Baker calls Tier 2 and Tier 3. If you work for a portal or are interested in markets in general you should read his analysis here. It concisely defines the market dynamics and strategic challenges portals face in different markets.
Property portal profiles - new features
We have just updated our search engine position tables for each of the 48
overseas property portals on Globaledge. Click on the Google Positions tab in each portal profile for an overview of how they rank by location on Google (UK).
We have also created simple pricing tables at the bottom of each editorial profile to save you time searching and comparing the minimum prices and commitment levels offered by different portals. Search property portals
here.
User Comments
I'd have to agree with the previous comment. With the tough market we are in at the moment, people are taking the sale into their own hands. And don't forget swapping. HomeSwapper4Sale is seeing increasing registrations as sellers look to find new and inventive ways to move house. And it's not just individuals as estate agents and developers alike also need to increase their business - I say get more people swapping!
Paul Weaver,
HomeSwapper4Sale
as ever, a thorough and objective piece of reporting and analysis but (and didn't you just know there'd be a but) what about including niche portals such as eco homes portal http://www.whatgreenhome.com in the mix?
ok, so, of course, we are not as big as the, er, big portals and we do not deliver the volume of leads they do but developers and agents who use whatgreenhome.com tells us that the quality and 'proceed-ability' of leads delivered is pretty good, and the cost per lead fair.
g miller,
whatgreehome.com
