Rightmove’s gross sales and earnings defy difficult UK property market

Rightmove scored bigger earnings and turnover final yr regardless of a serious slowdown affecting the UK housing market.

Britain’s largest property listings web site reported its income grew by 10 per cent to £364.3million in 2023 thanks to cost hikes and better demand for its packages and digital merchandise.

Advertisers spent a mean of £1,431 monthly on the London-based firm’s platform, a 9 per cent enhance on the earlier yr.

Good efficiency: Rightmove reported its income grew by 10 per cent to £364.3million in 2023 thanks to cost hikes and better demand for its packages and digital merchandise

While margins have been impacted by better payroll, overhead and know-how prices, Rightmove’s working earnings nonetheless expanded by 7 per cent to £258million.

The FTSE 100 agency’s efficiency was achieved towards a more difficult backdrop for the housing sector, because the Bank of England’s continued rate of interest hikes and cost-of-living pressures discouraged residence purchases.

Mortgage charges eased considerably at first of 2023 earlier than rising throughout the spring and summer time attributable to worse-than-expected inflation after which falling once more over the latter a part of the yr.

However, they remained far above lockdown-era ranges; the typical two-year mounted price peaked at 6.86 per cent in July, having been 2.34 per cent in December 2021, in accordance with monetary info supplier Moneyfacts.

Consequently, a million properties have been purchased within the UK final yr, in comparison with 1.2 million in 2022, knowledge from Land Registry exhibits.

Rightmove stated the typical time it took sellers to search out patrons lengthened from 37 to 59 days, whereas clients spent 15.4 billion minutes searching on its platform towards 16.3 billion the earlier yr, though this was nonetheless 27 per cent up on pre-pandemic ranges.

Johan Svanstrom, its chief government, stated: ‘In a yr of financial uncertainty, customers continued to belief Rightmove because the place to show to assist them make their transfer.

‘Customers have been ready to select from an expanded, extra refined product suite to proceed to drive enterprise ends in a altering market setting.

In 2024, Rightmove expects its income to rise by 7 to 9 per cent, though it warned buyer numbers have been ‘more likely to drop barely’ due to financial uncertainty.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead fairness analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, stated: ‘Rightmove is the final word lesson in pricing energy. 

‘Regardless of what is going on on within the wider market, whether or not it is up or down, at present’s property brokers can in poor health afford to not promote on the positioning.’ 

Rightmove’s outcomes come as Nationwide figures confirmed home costs grew by 1.2 per cent year-on-year to £260,420 in February, the primary optimistic annual enhance in 13 months.

Rightmove shares have been 1.4 per cent decrease at 558.8p simply after noon on Friday and have slumped by roughly 30 per cent because the finish of 2021.