Agency spend helps push Rightmove revenues to five-year high

Rightmove has posted its highest half-year revenue growth for five-years, helped by increased agency investment in the portal’s tools.

A half-year update from the portal this morning showed revenue was up £16.8m annually – a 10% rise - to £179.5m, as customers increased their use of digital products and continued to upgrade their packages.

This was the highest revenue growth in a first half period since 2018.

Estate agency investment in Rightmove packages and products resulted in agency revenue and average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) from this cohort both growing by 6%.

Agency ARPA increased by £79 to £1,341.

Rightmove reported its highest New Homes ARPA growth in any reporting period to date, up £330 (23%).

Its update revealed that membership numbers remain stable, up 1% or by 102 since the start of the year at 19,116, with 16,093 Agency branches and 3,023 New Homes developments.

More than 36% of Rightmove’s agent customers are now on the top Optimiser package, Rightmove said.

It comes amid concern about Rightmove fee hikes. The portal argues that agents should focus on the value they are getting from the property website.

Rightmove’s operating profit was up 7% annually to £129.5m.

Johan Svanstrom, chief executive of Rightmove, said: "This has been another period of strong financial and strategic progress for Rightmove. These results clearly illustrate that Rightmove continues to be the property portal that consumers turn to first and engage with the most, and that our customers continue to use our innovative products and services to support their businesses in both slower and faster housing markets. Our performance against the backdrop of a challenging interest rate environment demonstrates yet again that Rightmove isn't materially impacted by the property cycle.

"I have been very impressed by what I have seen in my first five months as Rightmove's CEO and would like to extend my thanks to the team for delivering so strongly. This is a business which has performed consistently well over an extended time-period, and I am excited by the growth opportunities that I see over the long term in the wider UK property market.

"From here, our aim is to expand our platform, our products and our data, for both customers and consumers, to further digitise the sector, both in our core business and in newer growth areas. We also want to play an active role in facilitating the much-needed green transition of the real estate market, leveraging our vast pool of data and insight to do so."