Free-to-list portals aiming for one million listings ...

New free-to-list portals Residential People and Commercial People are aiming to secure one million property listings by Q4 2019.

The portals - which launched in March - are now hosting over 200,000 listings from over 1,600 agents based in the UK, UAE, South Africa and India.

It has been confirmed to EAT that over 43,000 of the listings come from 463 UK agents who have signed up with the portals.

Since launching, the portals say they have gained invaluable brand awareness, attracting registrations from the likes of Lambert Smith Hampton, Avison Young, Open House, Outlook Property, Belvoir and Alex Neil.

The residential site carries a range of PropTech features such as automatic PDF and microsite generation facilities as well as a real-time video generator, and is aimed at estate agents, landlords and ancillary service providers.

Last month, the portals confirmed they have registered in China and hope to launch there by the end of the year. There are also plans to launch in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in the coming months.

"We have done fantastically well in reaching out to agents, and are looking for agents to support our proposition," says Christopher May, Residential People co-director.

"Agents that want to take advantage of our optional marketing tools and featured advertising may do so, but the beauty of our proposition is this is purely optional."

"Every single lead we bring to an agent is a free lead, there is nothing not to like. Simply put, the more support we get the more results we can deliver," he says.

May adds that listings on the site will 'always be free'.

John Williams, associate director at Outlook Property in London, says: "We like the concept of providing a free listings site and any portal that wants to upset the status quo has our support."

Meanwhile, another London agent, Jon Pulman, business development director at Alex Neil, says: "It’s refreshing to work with a business that understands the needs of an estate agent and we support their goal to become a top residential property search option."

Residential People
14 May 2019 12:00 PM

Good morning Mr Smile,

You will notice on our website there is not a single individual listing, this is purely a referral mechanism for our agents that list with us and is equivalent to an evaluation request because we know they want to sell.

If you have any more questions, feel free to call us on 020 8594 8220