Just like their U.S. counterparts, U.K. property search portal giants Zoopla and Rightmove “have to keep growing and monetizing and there probably will have to be some consolidation in the sector to reduce cost base,” Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital, tells the London Evening Standard. With Zillow and Trulia set to tie the knot, Rundle says, “There will be pressure on these guys to merge.”
U.K. agents have mixed feelings about the sites, which are a bit different than Zillow and Trulia in that they were created to help buyers and sellers bypass real estate agents. Agents “tend to now advertise their properties on both websites but are now trying to take control again,” Tech City News reports.
A new company founded last year by six real estate agents, Agents’ Mutual, will launch a consumer-facing website next year, OnTheMarket, and has already signed up around 2,900 branches. Source: standard.co.uk.