Major UK Portal Fees Will Not Rise

Mark Milner, CEO of The Digital Property Group (DPG), has announced that subscription fees for two of DGP’s portals, primelocation.com and findaproperty.com, will not rise in 2009.

“Whether we’re talking about 2008 or 2009, there are no price increases. Our [pricing] strategy is new and is being rolled out as we speak.”

Milner made the comments in an interview with The Negotiator this week.

Milner claimed some portals were increasing prices year-on-year to satisfy shareholders, and also spoke against agents banding together to lobby for lower fees, saying that DPG’s pricing took into account the circumstances of individual agents.

Miles Shipside, commercial director at competitor rightmove.co.uk, was quoted as saying that “middle ground portals” were engaging in underhand tactics to survive, such as announcing forthcoming price rises for rightmove.co.uk, when the company had no such plans:

“We are concentrating on helping proactive agents survive by reaching the biggest audience more effectively so they can sell more property and can choose to advertise even less in newspapers, who funnily enough own all these middle ground portals.”

Despite the clarification from these leading portals, the debate over portal advertising fees is not going to stop any time soon.

1. UK Portal Fees May Increase for Some

   Mark Milner of the Digital Property Group says they are rolling out a completely new "value based" pricing structure for findaproperty.com and primelocation.com. This is likely to mean a price increase for some agents while others remain flat. ...

2. UK Agents Stage Assault on Portal Fees

   It’s no secret that some UK estate agents have been grumbling about the fees big name portals charge them. It’s been an issue on the boil for a while, but now it looks set to boil over. News this week that some agents are organising themselves along more official lines in order to enter discussions with the portals. Henry Pryor from the Estate Agency Buying Group, is co-ordinating the battle for smaller firms who advertise on property portals. These smaller agents are facing “unprecedented falls in sales and therefore a significant loss in income and many simply cannot afford to spend as much as they once did”. Read on for more ... ...

3. rightmove Announces Major Contract

   UK market leader rightmove.co.uk this week publicly announced that it has renewed its agreement with Connells, the UK’s second largest estate agency group. The extension to the agreement runs into 2012....

4. Are UK Portals Really Losing Agents?

   Last year Henry Pryor formed the Estate Agency Buying Group, to band together smaller estate agency firms in order to negotiate the best terms possible for 2009 with UK property portals. As we entered the new year, Pryor told propertyportalwatch.com that many agents are holding firm and not renewing contracts with the pay-to-list portals....

5. Rightmove Overseas Cuts Rates

   Rightmove Overseas has brought in a new pricing structure, and for some lucky agents this will mean prices may drop by around 50%. ...