Zoopla buys HousePrices.co.uk
In December 2010 U.K. Property portal Zoopla announced that it had secured a £3.25 million funding package which it intended to use as a war chest for expansion. The first shot in that war now seems to be the acquisition of HousePrices.co.uk, a site that lets users search the U.K. Land Registry database of houses sold and the prices paid.
Zoopla hasn’t disclosed what it paid for the service, but CEO Alex Chesterman makes it clear that the deal is all about extending the portal’s reach;“This acquisition adds to the growing list of websites that we now either own directly or power exclusively, extending our reach even further and allowing us to offer our agent and developer members exposure to a unique and unrivalled online audience. HousePrices.co.uk has built a very strong following over the years by offering a great service, which we intend to continue.”
The U.K. property portal market remains dominated by RightMove with Zoopla and TDPG jostling for the right to claim second place.
Rightmove.co.uk director steps down
Stephen Shipperly, a non-executive director of Rightmove.co.uk has announced that he will leave the position at the end of the year. A co-founder and part of the portal’s line-up since its creation in 2000 Shipperley is also Group Executive Chairman of estate agency Connells which sold its own stake in Rightmove back in 2008 for £30 million as part of a drive to create a ‘war chest’ for buying business through the recession.
Shipperly was keen at the time to state that this was in no way a “vote of no confidence” in Rightmove and the agency has renewed its Rightmove membership.
Rightmove Chairman Scott Forbes said of the news that; “Stephen Shipperley has been an integral member of Rightmove’s Board since the formation of the business. We have been privileged to benefit from his property industry and business insights”.
Rightmove’s share price seemed, if anything, to rise on the news (released December 13th) but has since dipped a little (two days later) though this is also against a backdrop of falling U.K. house prices and the news that rival Zoopla has announced £3.25 million of new funding to help its growth. Zoopla’s funding is mostly from venture capital companies Atlas Venture and Octupus plus a £1.5 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank.
More accuracy means higher satisfaction, says Rightmove
Rightmove is fine-tuning its listings with better filtering and detection aimed at pruning back the dead links of out-dated listings.
“Given the frustration that inaccurate or misleading advertising causes for home-hunters, we felt it right to introduce measures which restrict the amount of stock left on the site when it’s no longer available,” according to Rightmove.co.uk Director Miles Shipside. “This activity is equally frustrating for the majority of rightmove.co.uk member agents who keep their advertised properties in order and up-to-date.”
Customer feedback highlighted the removal of dead stock as a priority for the portal. According to the site stricter control over grey areas such as properties that are sold or let subject to contract means that more than 80,000 properties will be removed from Rightmove.co.uk. Ever keen to stress how close it is to the property agents the portal notes that all changes are being made in consultation with the portal’s member agents.
RightMove moves to mobile
RightMove prides itself on getting things right rather than rushing to lead the field and so it is perhaps no surprise that the U.K. property leader has only now unveiled a mobile website — a full year since the release of its iPhone app. Continue reading
Shares soaring, rumors rife at RightMove
While the markets wait to see if Axel Springer’s €566 million bid for SeLoger.com is accepted, the news has already sent waves through the U.K. property portal business. Rightmove’s shares rose on Monday 13th of September by over 8 percent – a rise of 62.5p to 770p.
British newspapers have promptly started to speculate if it Rightmove could also be a target for acquisition. Thus far, however, those rumours seem to be based on no more than the heady excitement of the share price rather than any suggestion of intent by potential candidates.
Rightmove riding high
Half-year results for Rightmove show no sign of the U.K.’s top property portal losing its grip. Revenue for the first half of the year was £42.3 million — up from £33.6 million for the same period last year. Operating profit was £27.9 million, compared to £19.9 million in 2009. Continue reading
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