Mark Witherspoon Joins zoopla.co.uk

UK property portal and property information website, zoopla.co.uk, is the latest entrant to the AVM (Automated Valuation Model) market. On the back of this, the company has announced the appointment of Mark Witherspoon to the role of Strategic Development Director.

The Zoopla AVM employs a proprietary algorithm developed by analysing millions of property data points and works by comparing relationships between home prices, economic trends and property characteristics at micro geographic levels. Valuations are constantly refined, using the most recent data available and a variety of statistical methodologies, in order to provide the most current information on any home.

A press release from the company says:

“Witherspoon comes to Zoopla with extensive experience of the AVM market and related data services, having been formerly CEO of both Hometrack and UKValuation, where he pioneered the adoption of AVMs by UK lenders and helped develop the market for AVMs which now account for over 25% of mortgage valuations in the UK. Most recently Witherspoon has built a unique client base, consulting on data-driven risk management for a range of lenders and corporations and will divide his time between serving these clients and his role at Zoopla.”

Witherspoon will work with Zoopla’s Analytics Team and report to Zoopla’s CEO, Alex Chesterman, who said:

“We are thrilled to welcome Mark to our team at this stage in our development. His exceptional expertise in the mortgage finance and AVM fields will further help to solidify Zoopla’s position as the leading provider of property value data in the UK and establish Zoopla’s position as a leading B2B provider of property value data services across the UK.”

Witherspoon will be responsible for overseeing and shaping Zoopla’s B2B data services proposition, leveraging its unique and proprietary data to provide lenders with the UK’s most accurate, market leading automated property valuation tool. His role at Zoopla will allow Witherspoon to utilise his longstanding relationships in the industry to work closely with the UK’s leading financial service players to help them better manage their portfolios, make better-informed lending decisions and better understand their risk.

Witherspoon has previously worked at Barclays in executive and directorial roles.

He was quoted as saying:

“I am delighted to be joining the team at Zoopla and am looking forward to developing the proposition and leading further innovation in the property valuation data services field. With Zoopla’s sophisticated modelling and unique and proprietary data about UK homes, I am excited about the opportunity to provide clients with access to the Zoopla data for origination, revaluation and risk-assessment purposes.”

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