One quarter of consumers happy to search on all three portals

| Rosalind Renshaw

More people would search for a property on just Rightmove rather than search on a combination of Rightmove and Zoopla.

However, the majority would search all three sites, Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket.

A new survey also shows marked lack of consumer awareness, with one in four saying they would not search for a property on any of these sites, or did not know which portal they would use.

The independent survey, conducted for consumer site SellingUp, asked 1,000 people at the start of this month – six weeks after the launch of OnTheMarket – the question:

“Imagine you are looking to buy a property in the UK today. Of these three property websites, Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket.com – which would you be likely to search on?”

The answers were:

Just Rightmove – 20.98%

Just Zoopla – 7.19%

Just OnTheMarket.com – 2.10%

Rightmove and Zoopla – 17.18%

Rightmove and OnTheMarket.com – 2.00%

Zoopla and OnTheMarket.com – 0.80%

All: Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket.com – 25.57%

None of them – 13.49%

Don’t know – 10.69%

Oliver Lewis, editor of the site which advises home movers, said: “We ran the survey to find out what the implications might be for property sellers whose estate agents were no longer advertising on Rightmove or Zoopla, which are by far the two biggest portals.

“There is clearly a lot of overlap where buyers search on both Rightmove and Zoopla and perhaps others besides, but there are also significant numbers who only search on their particular favourite site.

“We understand that many estate agents feel they need to quit either Rightmove or Zoopla because they might pay less to be with OnTheMarket.com, but sellers need to be aware that if their properties are not on both of the big two portals they are likely to be seen by fewer potential buyers.

“The survey shows that if an estate agent has already decided it must join OnTheMarket.com for commercial reasons, then it probably makes more sense to stick with Rightmove over Zoopla as its ‘one other portal’.

“However, SellingUp.com, as a supporter of the best deal for property sellers, would urge estate agents to put pressure on OnTheMarket.com to drop its restrictive rule so that sellers can benefit from as wide a coverage for their properties as possible.”

The full survey is here

* Separately, another new survey released yesterday evening from an estate agency IT firm found that almost 91% of agents who have gone with OnTheMarket had stopped using Zoopla, and that 63% were using the new portal. However, the survey was answered by only 146 agents out of a total of 7,000 who had been sent it, said a spokesperson for easymate software. She admitted the response had been disappointing.

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20 Comments

  1. danny
    March 13, 2015 at 07:18

    The fact that 2% said just on the market leads me believe that this wasn’t a very in depth survey or they stopped people outside of Gregg’s who just pointed at some stuff for a free pie voucher.

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    1. Chrispy
      March 13, 2015 at 07:35

      I agree, this is WAY off the mark from the people we’re talking to

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      1. danny
        March 13, 2015 at 08:23

        It’s 2% out chrispy , ” yes , I just use only on the market now. I was bored of having any salient information about the house I’m buying so I’ve finally found a website that got rid of the annoying stuff , like how long it’s been it’s been advertised for and the price journey , it’s all soooo tedious and it’s better to just go into the house buying process blind. I’m planning to move as soon as that Nigerian prince gets backs to me about the oil wells”

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        1. EHenderson
          March 13, 2015 at 08:42

          What bothers me more is the editorial integrity of this website.

          This survey tells me that even when offered the chance to effectively say ‘I’ll search anywhere when looking property’ (which is the assertion from the Agents Mutual fanatics), 75% said ‘No’.

          Were is not for that whopping great banner on the side of this editorial page, would this article not say ‘75% of buyers would not consider searching on OTM’.

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          1. Property Pundit
            March 13, 2015 at 08:48

            If it bothers you the solution is easy – don’t look.

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  2. Ric
    March 13, 2015 at 07:18

    Shame they did not add “Agents own website” to the possible answers.

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  3. Blue
    March 13, 2015 at 07:33

    How many of your five a day do you eat ? many would answer 5, not because they do, but because it seems like the “correct” answer and because they don’t want to look foolish to the surveyor.

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  4. HarryN
    March 13, 2015 at 07:50

    What a stupid and leading question to ask.

    As the guy above says, what about agent’s own website? What about Google (where most people start), and what about Primelocation – which as I understand it makes up a fairly decent proportion of Zoopla’s traffic?

    The Hitwise traffic I’ve seen shows Rightmove at twice ZPG’s, so if you assume 2-3% would have said Primelocation, that would put it at about half of Rightmove’s – about right.

    The commentary is fairly sensible I guess, but I’m not even sure if this should be dignified coverage.

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  5. Property Personnel
    March 13, 2015 at 08:24

    Am I missing the point here? Surely, most people would just go straight to Google? What comes up on Page 1 is then another matter, but hopefully it would include your own estate agency’s website for starters!

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  6. stephenjury
    March 13, 2015 at 08:24

    These stats are way off! Rightmove in the 20%s?

    Poor

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    1. RealAgent
      March 13, 2015 at 08:54

      Say’s the man who works for a company that would have no business at all if if were not for Rightmove and Zoopla.  What the matter Stephen, worried the survey shows a massive hole in your claim to be a better alternative?!

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  7. IndAgent
    March 13, 2015 at 08:36

    What a rigged ‘survey’.  A completely leading question to ask…

    How about try ‘Please name the sites you would visit to find your next home’…. and see what the response was….

    I bet if you asked ‘….Rightmove, Zoopla and Greathomesforsale.com/I’lljust pick the easiest/obviousanswer’ ….. 25.57% of people would have still ‘agreed’ with your planned answer.

    This is a joke.

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    1. Clarkuk
      March 13, 2015 at 16:22

      Surveys like this are completely pointless I agree with IndAgent.

      I bet most of the people surveyed didn’t know about onthemarket.com until the survey was right in front of them.

      Good bit of marketing though (I bet loads of ppl that answered the survey logged onto OTM to check it out if they hadn’t heard of it before)

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  8. garret
    March 13, 2015 at 09:09

    Would this survey have more credibility if it had actually targeted active home movers?

    Just asking random members of the public (who are not even thinking about moving house) does not in my view reveal any meaningfull insight.

    Farily lightweight piece of PR fodder from a website who’s primary goal is to make income from online estate agent referrals.

    Come on Ros! You’re better than this!

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  9. Robert May
    March 13, 2015 at 09:10

    Call me a heretic but despite claims of xx million unique visitors visiting portals each month  by my reckoning less than 5% of the population are.
    When I try to explain to people  what I do, I will very often get a blank look if I try to explain further that the stuff I design is like Rightmove and Zoopla. The public is not as aware of the portals as the portals would have us believe!

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  10. Eamonn
    March 13, 2015 at 09:38

    It’s very difficult to organise a truly objective questionnaire for the public unless your are an experienced sociologist.  But I like the spirit of their attempt.  Fair play to them and full marks.

    The public may have a different opinion but I personally wouldn’t really put too much weight behind anything it’s says Because of the following.

    only 1000 sample

    13.49% percent says none.  (Really)

    No “other” option for people to select

    Russell Quirks bedroom pc was also omitted from the option

    it makes no reference to the type of market it is.

     

    In summary.   Zoopla and Rightmove are the same,  with Rightmove being the stronger option for ALL  agents.  Online or high street.   Agents on both RM & Z are paying double bubble in a sellers market.   The only reason to be on both if it’s a buyers market and agents and sellers need to hunt for the buyers a little harder.

    Thats the only argument to be on both……..simple…

    The process of home buying is a lot more simple than the  portals would like you to believe.  And their PR machines are making you believe that you are still in a buyers market and need you to promote it twice to the same people.

     

    In this strong sellers market  buyers will  hunt on a variey of platforms to find  their next home.  so unless your hiding the property it doesn’t really matter where it’s advertised buyers will find it

     

     

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    1. garret
      March 13, 2015 at 09:44

      Strong sellers market? Are you saying UK-wide or just in your localised area? Out of interest Eamonn, where are you based?

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  11. Eamonn
    March 13, 2015 at 09:48

    I’m saying the majority of UK. Nor course some areas are much stronger than others but The majority of the UK I is currently in a sellers market.

    my offices are based across the South East but outside London.

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  12. B6RKY
    March 13, 2015 at 14:51

    Sorry to disagree Eamonn but I believe that you will find that the majority of agents still think we are in a buyers market, particularly given the natural slowdown due to the upcoming election. Is this the classic North/South divide again?

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  13. Dr. C
    March 13, 2015 at 16:26

    It’s not a majority, you have to have 50%+ voting on an option for it to be a majority. You could call it a plurality.

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