Major announcements from Rightmove, Zoopla and Boomin...

Three of the leading portals have made major announcements as the fierce rivalry between the big players continues apace.

Firstly Zoopla claims its latest marketing drive and PropTech features have driven increased business to agents.

A month ago the portal announced the launch of its My Home feature and its biggest ever marketing campaign.

Now it says valuation leads are up 42 per cent in just a month. There has also been a 12 per cent uplift in visitors tracking a home and home values sessions are up 370 per cent.

Andy Marshall, the portal’s chief commercial officer, says: “We’re delighted to see the strong results My Home is already driving for our customers, particularly when it comes to valuation leads, which we know are gold dust for any agent.

“Our multi-million pound investment is all about supporting agents to capitalise on the buoyant market and the initial results show we’re off to a great start with agents already reaping the benefits.”

The portal says the aim of My Home and its marketing campaign is to turn the 42 per cent of UK households who are starting to think about selling, into active sellers.

During the campaign, Zoopla says it highlights the crucial role agents have to play in nudging homeowners to sell, with its inaugural Hidden Equity survey finding that the average homeowner undervalues their property by an average of £46,305.

“By educating homeowners on the true value of their property by providing an expert market valuation and personalised guidance, agents can support homeowners on how best to sell their home” the portal says.

Next up is Rightmove, which is set to grow its team of account managers by a quarter to - in its words - “further increase the level of service for agents.”

The recruitment drive comes alongside what the portal calls ongoing innovation for agents to help them win more instructions, prioritise the hottest leads and help with efficiencies in the current busy market.

Rightmove says it’s seen the number of valuation leads sent to agents jump by 20 per cent over the past week, with demand from prospective buyers up by 80 per cent on the same week in 2019, while rental demand is up by 53 per cent.

The portal’s agency director Dave Anderson says: “We want to increase the level of help and support for agents to make sure they’re making the most of all of the tools that are included in their membership, to take advantage of the current market conditions.

“As well as our most popular tools like the Best Price Guide and market share reports, a number of agents are also using more recent innovations such as Viewings Manager, an appointment booking tool which is also included in their membership, to cut down on tenant no-shows.

“Other agents are demonstrating their SSTC successes by using our Sold by Me product to target prospective sellers within property search.

“We need to make sure agents are getting more of our time so they’re aware of everything available to them that could help them grow their market share further in their local area, and also see if we can help their teams cut down on admin so they can focus more on building up their pipeline.”

The portal says the aim of My Home and its marketing campaign is to turn the 42 per cent of UK households who are starting to think about selling, into active sellers.

Finally there’s news from Boomin too.

The new challenger portal has announced that Richard Pennycook - a major supermarket Industry figure - has been appointed to the board as a non-executive director.

A former chief financial officer of Morrison Supermarkets, he’s most recently been chief executive of The Co-operative Group, where he was widely recognised as saving and rebuilding the business in recent years.

Boomin chief executive Michael Bruce says: “We are building out a powerful team of the highest calibre, reflecting the size of the opportunity, our ambitions and the desire to be the number one choice for our agent partners.

“Richard’s exceptional career at the forefront of British retail makes him ideally suited to help us execute on our strategy to always pursue the best interests of estate agents, generate them maximum revenue and bolster the development of Property Playground, one of the key and unique features of the Boomin platform, which sets it apart from the other listings focused portals.

“Playground is already growing in momentum, with new architects, designers and other home service providers joining the platform, alongside an increasing number of homeware and furniture retail partners.”