Competition increases in UK property market
Two sets of contradictory evidence concerning online property listing viewership have highlighted the growing rivalry between websites Zoopla and OnTheMarket (OTM), in a sign of increased activity and competition within the UK property market. Google Analytics estimated that OTM received over 5.4 million visits in August and Chief Executive Ian Springett believes it is "only a matter of time" before OTM overtakes Zoopla as the UK&rsquo;s second most popular listing platform, losing out to only Rightmove; however, internet monitoring service Hitwise claimed OTM only received 2.7 million visits, half the figure claimed by Google Analytics.
OTM also says it attracted more than 2.5m unique visitors, an increase of 100,000 compared with July.

OnTheMarket says it achieved more than 5.4m visits in August according to Google Analytics, which represents a rise of more than 220,000 compared to the previous month.

The war of words and statistics between rival portals continues apace as OnTheMarket says its visits hit a record last month according to Google Analytics, while Hitwise data provided by Zoopla shows a very different picture.

“This is only the beginning” says Ian Springett, OTM chief executive.

“Our traffic, agent membership and property listings all continue to grow month-on-month. We remain confident that it's only a matter of time before we overtake Zoopla as the number two portal in terms of property listings and then focus directly on providing agents and consumers alike with a credible alternative to Rightmove.”

However, data provided by Zoopla Property Group and collected by Hitwise, an independent internet monitoring company, shows OTM securing only 2,704,824 visits in August - that’s roughly half the figure shown by the Google Analytics data.

The Hitwise figures show Zoopla/PrimeLocation visits for August on 40,059,028 - that’s around 15 times the OTM total.

Even if Hitwise is correct even ZPG’s visits in August are dwarfed by those for Rightmove, which secured 89,970,776.

OnTheMarket says it is running a “heavyweight TV advert campaign” during September, when it estimates its advertisement will run more than 2,500 times over three weeks.

* Here’s a reminder that Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today readers have a unique opportunity this week to question Zooplas founder and chief executive Alex Chesterman on questions about his portals or the industry at large. Full details here.