Prices Wars at findaproperty, primelocation
December 11, 2008 by Emma Sorensen
findaproperty.com and primelocation.com, both owned by the Digital Property Group, have revealed their new “value based” pricing structure.
The value based pricing model takes into account factors such as the agent’s location, number of properties advertised, and the average value of the properties. The company says the price of advertising on their portals will therefore better reflect the potential value they can offer to an agent’s business.
The main change seems to be that agents are being encouraged to advertise across all four of the websites owned by parent company Associated Northcliffe Digital (AND).
AND is the digital consumer division of the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). In addition to findaproperty.com and primelocation.com it also owns homesandproperty.co.uk and findanewhome.com.
Some reports say that advertising across all four portals is now mandatory, but the company have assured agents that they can still list on single portals.
Estate Agent Today have published comments from a statement from the company saying:
“Agents can continue to advertise on a single site if they wish to do so, while missing out on the proven value brought by advertising on all four portals.
“Being listed on FindaProperty, Primelocation, Homesandproperty and FindaNewHome helps member agents to reach wider audiences than ever before; connecting them with more than 3.7m consumers per month.”
The new price structure means listing properties on all four sites could effectively result in a price increase for some agents and a reduction for others.
The portal owners argue that keeping the websites separate keeps them focussed on their distinct markets, and that agents will benefit from advertising across all four, targeting different segments of the market.
- TV Ads for primelocation.com, findaproperty.com
As other companies tightened their belts, Mark Milner, CEO of The Digital Property Group, announced a multi-million pound investment in print and television advertising for both primelocation.com and findaproperty.com. Some estimates place it as high as £17 million. TV advertisements for both portals have been running in the UK all through the month of October. So why have The Digital Property Group gone down this road?...
- TDPG Pricing Attracts Debate
estateagenttoday.co.uk is reporting complaints from agents over new advertising rates for portals within the The Digital Property Group. ...
- Major UK Portal Fees Will Not Rise
Mark Milner, CEO of The Digital Property Group, has announced that subscription fees for two of DGP’s portals, primelocation.com and findaproperty.com, will not rise in 2009....
- Competition in New Home Portals
findanewhome.com has overtaken previous UK market leader smartnewhomes.com as the most-visited new homes portal according to Hitwise figures from November....
- findaproperty.com Launch Google Street View
It’s been big week for UK portal findaproperty.com who were revealed as the lead partner in the McDonald’s Best Chance Monopoly nationwide promotion and also selected as the only UK property portal launch partner for Google Street View. ...
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The Digital Property Group can only offer three sites to residential sales and/or lettings agents due to the fact that FindaNewhome only advertises new homes for developers.
It’s interesting to note too that this ‘fourth’ site is simpoly the third tab on FindaProperty. How do they split out this section into a new site without anyone questioning this?
They need to be careful with their aggregating their traffic t as this 4 for 1 subscription for residential agents does not exist.
Interesting article, does it take in to account the number of Estate Agents in the area chasing potential customers? Good that they are trying to fine tune the packages, to suit all scenarios, but are they just trying to squeeze more out of the agents budget!
The times they are a changing especially in real estate …