It is a fact, most househunters now search online for their next home, and rather than first visiting local agents’ websites, they plump for the property portals – and property professionals by and large do the same when it comes to researching existing stock on the market.

New research shows 85% of property professionals visit Rightmove first to research properties, with just one in ten turning to either OnTheMarket or Zoopla.

Graham Lock, chief executive of The Federation of Independent Agents (FIA), has revealed the results of poll asking 168 senior property-related professionals where they would begin their own search for a property.

The results were as follows:

Rightmove    –   85%
Zoopla            –     5%
On The Market – 5%
Visit a local agent/website    5%

“We all know that the majority of the general public go to Rightmove first in their search for a property but this survey was aimed at property professionals from within the industry who have a deeper knowledge and understanding of how the market really works,” said Lock.

The survey saw votes cast by a range of industry figures, including business owners, from a range of industry-related companies.

Lock continued: “Votes came in from various directors, CEO’s and the like from within the property world. We had votes from senior portal figures, suppliers and estate agency business owners of all sizes including corporates and independents. What this outcome says is that despite people from within the industry having an inside track on all matters they still prefer Rightmove as their first port of call for their own property search.

“OnTheMarket are planning a significant marketing campaign in the near future as they plan to eat into some of Rightmove’s market share dominance but as we’ve seen in the past it’s a tough nut to crack not only altering the behaviour of the general public but also from professionals within the industry. Maybe this gives a clue as to why Rightmove recently rejected takeover approaches, they’re clearly out on their own at the moment when it comes to property search, specifically as to the first port of call.

Agents will be buoyed by the fact that they came in at the same percentage as Zoopla and OTM which means people still value going to a local point of contact first, a trend they’ll want to see continue to rise.’

This is the second set of survey findings published by the FIA over the past couple of months.

Less than a fifth of agents have seen a rise in OTM leads since CoStar Group takeover – poll