New UK Portal Aiming for rightmove.co.uk Agents

The creator of a new free-to-list UK property portal says it has already begun enticing agents who list with market leader rightmove.co.uk.

Launched on Monday, luvthecity.com lists properties for sale and rent in Manchester, and there are plans to expand to cover ten more cities within a year. Along with property listings, luvthecity.com also includes an apartment block guide with ratings out of 10, and information on city services and nearby pubs.

Director Julian Bovis has set up the website to be free for property hunters and free-to-list for both private and commercial sellers. In an interview with how-do.co.uk, Bovis also explained that the website offers paid featured listings, but admitted “we don’t really have a great commercial strategy as yet”.

“We’re looking into developing that now,” Bovis told the website. “We really want to corner the market first and then we’ll focus on that.”

Discussing the official launch with how-do.co.uk, Bovis revealed his success in gathering support from rightmove.co.uk agents:

“Our target for the end of year one was to have 10 percent of rightmove.co.uk’s agents on board, but we’ve managed 20 percent on day one.”

Bovis added that plans to release the next portal, covering Leeds, have been brought forward due to the “positive response” the Manchester portal has received.

1. luvthecity.com Releases Initial Figures

   luvthecity.com, launched late last month, has released its first set of audience figures....

2. Expansion Plans at luvthecity.com

   When UK property portal luvthecity.com first launched in Manchester late last year, director Julian Bovis admitted “we don’t really have a great commercial strategy as yet”. But something must be working at the new portal, as Liverpool and Leeds have now been added to the areas luvthecity.com covers....

3. 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 ... ...

4. 75% of Agents NOT Will Leave rightmove.co.uk

   An Estate Agency Today story claims that 75% of agents are threatening to quit rightmove. The article stated "an astonishing 75.7% of agents who participated in the Estate Agent Today poll say they will not be renewing their annual subscriptions to Rightmove. A total of 1,230 votes have been cast so far. Of these, 931 (75.7%) say they will not renew while 299 (24.3%) say they will stay with the hugely successful portal, which claims a 90% share of the listings market." Now a couple of comments about the survey. Firstly, anyone can complete the survey - i did and i am not an agent. Therefore there is no way that Estate Agency Today can know that it was agents who completed the survey. Secondly, the survey does not systematically interview agents to find out their true intentions rather it is most likely to be answered by those unhappy with the service and can be bothered to answer the survey. Therefore i am not surprised at the results - however i dont believe them. Read on for more comments ... ...

5. Are Agents Getting More Value from rightmove?

   While advertisers on rightmove.co.uk have been decreasing, the number of enquiries has been increasing thus providing those advertisers who continue to use rightmove.co.uk with more 20% more leads per month than the same time last year....