On the day that OnTheMarket releases its end-of-year results Zoopla has revealed it made a £30 million investment in its agent partners to help them survive the market shutdown following COVID-19.

The company unveiled two new fee structures in March, offering agents up to nine months listings for free.

These terms, which the company believes were the most generous of any portal globally, represented a £30 million investment in its agent partners, helping them free up vital cash.

400 new branches have joined the portal since the end of March and, despite a tumultuous few months and a 50-day market suspension, over 90% of branches have signed up to a long-term partnership of at least 17 months.

Since the market reopened for business, Zoopla says it has provided over 2,000,000 applicant, valuation and phone leads to its agent partners, representing a lead every 1.1 seconds being sent to agents,

Last week, total sessions on Zoopla were up over 58% compared to the week before lockdown ended.

Also last week, the portal enjoyed its busiest day of the year to date on 6 June with nearly 207,000 hours spent searching the site by eager home hunters.

The portal’s database of potential buyers, renters and sellers is growing by 5% week on week while email engagement is up 13% compared to the period before the pandemic.

Commenting on the update Charlie Bryant, Zoopla CEO, said:

“There is no doubt this has been an unprecedented time for our industry but I’m proud of how it has weathered the storm.

“We have tried to play our part, focusing on supporting our agent partners so they can enjoy long-term success.

“It is rewarding to see our significant investment in the agent community repaid with the overwhelming majority signing long-term partnerships with Zoopla.

“This means we can build together and plan for when the market and wider economy returns to normal, and underlines Zoopla’s position as the scaleable, established and well-funded agent focused portal.”