Another strong showing for the online property sector in August
- Pent up demand leads to increased house-hunting activity -
29th Sep 2009
With evidence that the UK economy is beginning to emerge from recession, it appears that house-hunters are once again searching the market in record numbers. According to the latest figures from independent tracking sources Nielsen and comScore, activity on the UK's leading property websites was up again in August, growing 8% over a strong showing in July.
The figures show that unique visitors to the top 10 UK property websites grew from 8.9 million in July to 9.7 million in August - an encouraging figure, suggesting growing demand from buyers searching the market. The majority of the leading websites in the sector surprisingly attracted higher traffic levels during what was expected to be a quiet holiday month.
Zoopla.co.uk grew at a far greater pace than its peers, with 26% month on month growth cementing its position again as the fastest growing business in the sector. And as a result of its acquisition of the Propertyfinder Group earlier this summer, Zoopla Limited now controls the 3rd and 4th most-visited portal businesses in the UK.
Alex Chesterman, CEO of Zoopla, commented: "These figures and the recent growth certainly suggest that there is a lot of buyer interest returning to the market. We sent a record number of leads to our agent members in August. We are delighted by the overall market pick up and the fact that Zoopla.co.uk grew at a rate almost three times the sector average. As we move towards integrating the Zoopla.co.uk and Propertyfinder.com businesses, the value we offer our agent members in clear in terms of our audience size, lead volumes and unique features."
| August 09* .000s |
July 09* .000s |
MoM growth |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Rightmove | 3,024 | 2,783 | 8.65% |
| Digital Property Group** | 2,371 | 2,132 | 11.19% |
| Propertyfinder Group** | 1,429 | 1,317 | 8.47% |
| Zoopla.co.uk | 644 | 510 | 26.27% |
| Nestoria | 637 | 577 | 10.37% |
| Globrix | 592 | 535 | 10.56% |
| Trovit Homes | 436 | 426 | 2.23% |
| Trinity Mirror Network** | 208 | 276 | -24.64% |
| Fish4Homes** | 200 | 216 | -7.41% |
| Home.co.uk | 165 | 158 | 4.43% |
| Totals | 9,703 | 8,930 | 8.66% |
* Average number of unique visitors per Nielsen & comScore
** Figures include combined audience from multiple websites
- Ends -
For further information, please contact PR Team on pr@zoopla.co.uk or +44 (0)20 3873 8770.
Notes to editors
The rankings are compiled by averaging the number of unique visitors in the month reported by Nielsen and comScore, providing a more stable picture of the market and eliminating any bias of an individual reporting method.
About Zoopla.co.uk
Zoopla.co.uk is a unique property website offering users information and tools to help them make better-informed property decisions. Our aim is to provide the most comprehensive source of residential property market information in the UK to help buyers, sellers, owners and estate agents alike and give them an advantage in the property market.
In 2007, following the success of bringing DVD rental to the web with LOVEFiLM.com, Zoopla founders Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain realised that the UK property market had yet to fully enjoy the benefits of the internet in terms of its ability to deliver transparency and efficiency. They set out with the mission to transform the property market for both professionals and consumers by:
- offering users FREE access to instant value estimates, sold house prices and local information and trends
- enhancing estate agents' marketing efficiency by providing exposure/leads on a pay-for-performance basis
- helping users find local agents and other property professionals to assist them in the transaction process
- letting buyers make offers on ANY UK home and owners test interest in their homes before choosing to sell
- creating an environment where anyone can ask/answer questions and share their knowledge about homes
By providing FREE value estimates for EVERY UK home, sold prices and local information as well as hundreds of thousands of property listings for sale/to rent, Zoopla.co.uk is fast-becoming the ultimate destination for users to both search for property and to do their market research. We continue to be the UK's fastest growing property website and largest and most active property community, with over a million user contributions to our website in the past 12 months alone. We also offer unique features, like TemptMe. and AskMe., which allow consumers to gain an insight into the market and discover information they won't find anywhere else. Our estate agent directory, FindAnAgent and our unique AskAnAgent feature also help guide users to local professionals directly for their expertise.
Our value estimates are calculated using a proprietary algorithm (secret formula) that we have developed by analysing millions of data points relating to property sales and home characteristics throughout the UK. The algorithm works by comparing relationships between home prices, economic trends and property characteristics in given geographic areas. Our estimates are constantly refined, using the most recent data available and a variety of statistical methodologies, in order to provide the most current information on any home.
Zoopla Limited is a privately held company with a highly experienced and proven management team, backed by well-respected angel investors and leading venture capital firms Atlas Venture (atlasventure.com) and Octopus Ventures (octopusventures.com).