zoopla.co.uk Acquires thinkproperty.com
July 15, 2009 by Emma Sorensen
Not only is zoopla.co.uk rumoured to be in negotiations to purchase REA Group owned propertyfinder.com, but the UK property portal and property information website has announced today that it has acquired thinkproperty.com from Guardian Media Group (GMG) for an undisclosed sum.
This latest news begs the question – is the UK property portal market going through a period of consolidation?
thinkproperty.com was launched by GMG in 2006 and focuses primarily on delivering leads to UK estate agents. Late last year thinkproperty.com changed to a free-to-list model, with the company reporting that the number of agents listing on the portal rose.
Under the deal, zoopla.co.uk says it will take over and integrate the thinkproperty.com brand and website, benefiting from its current traffic of over 200,000 unique users per month, along with becoming the exclusive property search partner on the guardian.co.uk website.
The company says that agents currently listing their properties on zoopla.co.uk will now gain even more exposure and receive more leads as a result of the acquisition. zoopla.co.uk currently accepts listings on a pay-per-lead basis.
Founder and CEO of zoopla.co.uk, Alex Chesterman, said:
“We are delighted to be leading the latest round of consolidation in this market as it reinforces our mission of delivering the best possible value to estate agents by increasing their exposure to a wider audience and offering them a broader range of services. We plan to continue to grow our traffic organically and look at possible further acquisitions as part of our commitment to become the most efficient marketing partner for UK estate agents.”
Mark Goddard of GMG Property Services added:
“zoopla.co.uk has made impressive progress in a crowded marketplace and their success in engaging with the UK property consumer via a differentiated experience reinforces the belief that the UK portal market is still able to be disrupted. The acquisition of thinkproperty.com by zoopla.co.uk continues to build on what is becoming a very compelling proposition for the UK estate agent and I wish Alex and his team well”.
While thinkproperty.com typically rated number 10 or so in the UK traffic rankings, zoopla.co.uk has been at number 5 for the past months. zoopla.co.uk is certainly making assertive moves towards growth and expansion but the company is yet to make any formal announcement about a potential purchase of propertyfinder.com.
Listen to Simon Baker’s podcast interview with zoopla.co.uk CEO Alex Chesterman or read an interview Q&A about his plans for zoopla.co.uk here.
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- propertyfinder.com Sold to zoopla.co.uk
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- INEA Connects with thinkproperty.com
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Congratulations to all the team at Zoopla Excellent work – Rightmove, Findaproperty and primelocation- PPL is here can you step up to the mark, I will be watching this space at PPW.
Amul Raj Desai
International business development manager
twitter -property1
[...] Last month I had the chance to meet with Mark Goddard, the Group Managing Director for the Property Services Division. We chatted about a number of his businesses including Thinkproperty and Vebra. Today, it was announced that GMG had sold thinkproperty.com to the highly acquisitive Zoopla. [...]
Interesting to watch the Zoopla strategy unfold.
Kind of a Zillow copycat but now going mainstream portal.
What will the VCS involved be expecting on exit?
Can they drive enough traffic to overtake DMG and challenge Rightmove?
Zoopla has played cheque mate to right move who are now looking over their pre ordained shoulder (mixture of free and paying model).
Zoopla + thinkproperty and propertyfinder.com make up a powerful traffic gate .
DMG is restructuring and looking and redesign of webistes(subscription model)
Globrix has progressly increased traffic and is moving forward with increased functionality and content. (free model)
what will be interesting over the coming months is which model out PPL , subscription and free will bey key to driving each portal forward in 2010.
Amul Raj Desai
twitter – property1