Rightmove reports rise in agents, traffic and revenue per advertiser

In its latest report to shareholders, Rightmove has revealed yet more growth in agent numbers, traffic to its website, revenue per advertiser and profits.

The figures - released this morning - relate to the first six months of this year and show that it has record agency and new homes customer numbers, up one per cent since the start of 2017 to 20,358.

It now claims that 1.1m UK residential properties are advertised on Rightmove, a third more than on any other portal.

Traffic is also up three per cent to 131.8m per month compared to the same period a year ago and time on site for visitors averages over one billion minutes per month.

Average revenue per advertiser - a crucial measurement within the portal sector - is  up £81 or around 10 per cent on the same period a year ago to £911 per month.

Its trading statement talks of “strong growth” with revenue up 11 per cent to £119.5m with underlying operating profit also up 11 per cent to £91.0m and operating profit up nine per cent to £87.6m.

Its statement reads: “Following last year’s acquisition of the Outside View, Rightmove has successfully integrated and launched a new predictive analytics product for customers, ‘Rightmove Discover’, that is based on artificial intelligence techniques and delivers instruction opportunities to agents. Further innovations include its ‘Where Can I Live?’ tool which helps home hunters looking for inspiration on areas to live in, and experiments in the rental market with a Rent London app for iOS that incorporates a Facebook Messenger bot.”

"Home hunters visited Rightmove a record 3,000 times a minute in the first half of 2017, turning to us first to search and research on the only place you can see almost the entire UK residential property market” says Peter Brooks-Johnson, chief executive officer. 

“Our continued development to deliver the richest experience and fastest way for home hunters to 'find their happy' from 1.1m residential properties has been recognised by Forbes Magazine naming Rightmove "the world's most innovative growth company" for the second year in a row. 

“This recognition is thanks to innovation such as our latest search feature, 'Where can I live?', which finds homes in areas which are affordable and convenient, offering home hunters help when their inspiration has run dry.

“Our aim has always been to help our agents and developers succeed by delivering great value marketing and building strong relationships to support their ambitions. This approach continues to serve us well as we have grown our customer base to an all-time high demonstrating that Rightmove is the site of choice, not only for Britain's home movers, but also its property professionals.

“With consumers and customers becoming increasingly digital our clear market leadership coupled with the value of our products and data positions us well for the future."