Online letting agents may be on the rise, but do they operate much differently to high street firms and do they pose a threat to traditional services?
Industry expert Rayhan Rafiq Omar, of the Real Estate Pundit, says low-price online agents are “now the mainstay of DIY landlords – those who self-manage.”
He says that Upad and OpenRent are the largest in terms of listings on Rightmove and Zoopla.
However, he has uncovered many differences between agents, finding that some put most of their listings on Zoopla.
For example, he revealed that OpenRent has 1,062 listings on Zoopla but just 677 on Rightmove, and Purplebricks has 3,740 on Zoopla with only 277 on Rightmove.
Omar adds: “Online agents are filling Rightmove and Zoopla’s coffers and not truly differentiating.
“Why won’t any of these agents kill off or disrupt traditional agents? They aren’t adding value.”1
He has ranked online agents, with his figures updated on 14th September:
|
Position |
Agent | Listings on Rightmove |
Listings on Zoopla |
| 1 | Upad | 703 | 667 |
| 2 | OpenRent | 677 | 1,062 |
| 3 | Urban.co.uk | 357 | 837 |
| 4 | Visum | 311 | 222 |
| 5 | Purplebricks | 277 | 3,740 |
| 6 | easyProperty | 246 | 293 |
| 7 | Rentify | 166 | 366 |
| 8 | HouseSimple | 129 | 1,598 |
| 9 | Makeurmove | 126 | 127 |
| 10 | My Online Estate Agent | 116 | 0 |
| 11 | The Online Letting Agents | 101 | 0 |
| 12 | Lettingaproperty.com | 97 | 0 |
| 13 | I Am The Agent | 61 | 0 |
| 14 | Gordon’s The Online Estate Agent | 37 | 0 |
| 15 | Online Agent UK | 27 | 0 |
| 16 | Igloo | 21 | 0 |
| 17 | Tepilo | 17 | 0 |
| 18 | House Network | 15 | 0 |
| 19 | LoveYourPostcode | 8 | 0 |
| 20 | Home Online UK | 7 | 0 |
| 21 | 9yds | 6 | 0 |
| 22 | Your Online Letting Agents | 3 | 0 |
| 23 | FindAHomeOnline.co.uk | 2 | 0 |
| 24 | eMoov | 1 | 0 |
1 http://www.realpundit.com/home/2014/who-is-the-best-online-letting-agent