Agent numbers may have remained broadly flat but the portal has still managed to extract more money from them as it boasts of ‘its proven ability to grow profits and cashflows in all market conditions’.
Rightmove’s year-end results reveal that despite achieving a modest 2% increase in the number of agents using the portal it has managed to return rising revenues, up by £25.6m (7%) to £389.9m while underlying operating profit increased by 4% to £9.3m.
And, with market conditions improving as the base rate fell, traffic was up too with 16.4 billion minutes spent on the platform (+6%).
Near monopoly
Rightmove claims that of all the leads delivered by portals in 2024, it was responsible for over 7 out of 10 vendor instructions and over 8 out of 10 lettings instructions.
This near monopoly of the market enabled it to extract more money from its customer base, with particular growth in its premium Optimiser Edge package, which now has 31% of independent agents subscribing to it, Lead Keys, its end-to-end digital rental service, which saw 500 new sign-ups and its mortgage services, which more than doubled its revenue to £4.7m.
Average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) was up £93 to £1,524 per month. Estate agency ARPA was up 6% to £1,440 and new homes developers’ ARPA increased by 9% to £1,987.
Revenue to grow further 8-10%
In the year ahead, Rightmove is planning on continuing to invest in innovation and AI and is expecting revenue growth to hit 8-10%. This is based on increased uptake of Optimiser Edge, further product-led growth across its core business and continued progress in its Commercial Property, Mortgages and Rental Services.
It is not, however expecting much growth in customer numbers at 1% but ARPA will be up by £95 – £105 across estate agencies and new homes developers.
There is, though, no mention of recent calls for an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into its charging policies and Citi Bank is warning that if there is one, the outcome could impact Rightmove’s pricing strategies.
Reported by The Negotiator
