ZPG reports big surge in agents and listings over past six months

ZPG has published its half-year figures this morning showing a six per cent rise in the number of agents and a nine per cent rise in total listings on its Zoopla and Primelocation portals, and a 22 per cent surge in revenue for the group. 

Some 750 estate agency branches have returned to it over the past two years and it is now investing in a new business which will provide an alternative to tenants’ deposits.

In the six months to the end of March, revenue rose to £117.9m as the group recorded record traffic - over 314m visits to the company's websites and apps, with over 68 per cent of those using mobile devices. 

The six per cent growth in agents - or what ZPG calls ‘portal partners’ - takes the total at the end of March to 14,271 branches; inventory is now in excess of 928,000 listings. 

It says 750 branches have returned to ZPG over past two years - roughly the time that OnTheMarket has existed. 

Average revenue per partner has risen five per cent, driven by strong demand for both portal & software products. 

In the trading statement ZPG says further product innovation and differentiation has taken place with the launch of new Move Planner tool on Zoopla while the acquisitions of Hometrack and Expert Agent - the latter now being discussed with the Competitions and Markets Authority - “help further improve product portfolio for our partners.”

On the utility switching side of ZPG’s services, revenue rose eight per cent with 15.9m leads generated “helping consumers save over £137m off their household bills over the period.”

Alex Chesterman, founder and chief executive of ZPG, said in the trading statement: "Our audience grew by five per cent with a record 314 million visits to our websites and apps and we achieved record levels of brand awareness for both Zoopla and uSwitch.

"We also made good progress on our continued product differentiation with the launch of an innovative new Move Planner tool which provides a one-stop shop for all moving related services and are pleased to announce today a strategic investment in Zero Deposit, a new business seeking to transform the lettings market by providing an alternative to tenant deposits.

"Our property division has performed very well, driven by continued portal partner win backs, strong demand for our upsell products and the continued migration of our software partners to cloud-based products. The integration of Hometrack into the wider business is progressing well and, since the acquisition, we have signed new deals with TSB and Bank of Ireland and extended our relationship with HSBC, now serving 17 of the top 20 UK mortgage lenders.

"We remain incredibly excited by the underlying growth across each of the business divisions, our recent acquisitions and the significant cross-sell opportunities to our highly engaged consumer audience and our unrivalled partner base."