*Top 50 overseas property portals

The results from the latest Global edge overseas property portal rankings reveal the market is moving to a more mature and stable phase of development.

For the first time in its three year history, the rankings are relatively unchanged from the previous quarter.

The biggest change is arguably Digital Property Group’s FindaProperty.com moving back into the top three to restore the status quo of Rightmove, Digital Property Group and TheMoveChannel.com as the three most visible online marketing channels in the overseas property space.

Other movers include low-cost Canadian-based Portal point2 Homes which moves up four places from twelfth to eighth and Property World, up nine places to fifteenth. Both HomesGoFast and Escape Artist rise three places each.

Comment – Last mover disadvantage

In the later stages of the boom years, a week would barely go without a would-be entrepreneur announcing the launch of new overseas portal that would “change the world” and “beat Rightmove”.

Of the dedicated overseas portals in the top ten, only two of the late entrants survived. PropertyIndex.com spent £5 million and now ranks ninth. Mondinion.com spent a tiny fraction of that and now ranks fourth.

The market is still fragmented but we appear to be entering a more mature phase with a smaller number of portals taking a larger share of traffic and with less room for new entrants.

In the overseas property space, the single most important determinant of a portal’s ability to generate leads is Google visibility. The problem for new entrants has been attaining that visibility at a reasonable price.

Interestingly, seventeen of the top twenty launched in late nineties and early noughties when competition was low and customer acquisition cheap.

Agents and developers now have less choice but for the moment at least, less competition does not seems to have fed through to higher prices.

How to use this information

The data in the table below demonstrates how portals rank on Google on aggregate across more than 500 popular overseas property destinations. It does not necessarily show the portals which are best for the locations where you sell. For example, if you sell Spanish property, there are a number of specialist Spanish sites often do better than some of the bigger generalist portals.

Also, Google visibility, although in our opinion the most important factor, is not the only consideration when choosing partners to work with. Brand strength, content and usability are also important. Our editorial profiles are aimed to help you in this regard.

Property Portal Shortlists

To address the issues above, we have put together a number of short-lists organized by the region you sell in which allow you to quickly compare Google visibility, brand strength, content, usability and prices. The regions covered include Bulgaria, Caribbean, Central & South America, Cyprus, Eastern Europe, France, Italy, Middle East, Portugal, Spain and Turkey.