Rightmove Reports Improvement in Rental Market Dynamics Amid Continued Imbalance
According to Rightmove, the rental sector experienced a slight reduction in the supply/demand imbalance last year, although it remains significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. In its 2024 outlook, the property portal noted, “The lettings sub-market is showing signs of rebalancing, yet inquiries per available property still exceed those seen before COVID-19.”
This development coincides with lettings agents contributing to a rise in Rightmove’s revenues.
In its full-year report for 2024, Rightmove revealed that the average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) increased by £93, reaching £1,524 per month. Notably, agency ARPA rose to £1,440, reflecting a 6% annual growth, while new homes developers saw their ARPA increase by 9% to £1,987.
2024 also marked the first full year of Rightmove’s “Lead to Keys” service, a digital end-to-end solution designed for lettings agents, landlords, and renters. This innovative product enables the completion of rental agreements in just five streamlined steps. Rightmove shared, “Launched late in 2023 with 31 agents, Lead to Keys is still in its early stages, but it is expanding rapidly, with over 500 agents signing up by the end of 2024.”
The company also enhanced its primary offerings, Tenancy Manager and Enquiry Manager, to help agents quickly source and qualify potential tenants. Rightmove’s established position in tenancy applications supports a streamlined process for agents adopting these new services.
Overall, Rightmove reported a 7% annual increase in revenue for 2024, driven by estate agencies and new homes developers upgrading their service packages and embracing more digital solutions. The underlying operating profit rose 4% to £273.9 million, with agency revenues climbing to £280 million—a 7% increase compared to 2023. This growth was attributed to agents investing in enhanced packages and additional offerings. Rightmove noted record adoption rates for its premium package, Optimiser Edge, with over 1,600 partners upgrading and an additional 1,100 transitioning from the previous Optimiser 20 package.
Rightmove also achieved recognition as the fourth-busiest digital platform in the UK in 2024, following only the BBC, digital publisher Reach, and the government website, Gov.uk.
Johan Svanstrom, Rightmove’s CEO, commented, “Our strong results illustrate the resilience of Rightmove’s business model. The platform received 2.3 billion visits in 2024, with users spending a total of 16.4 billion minutes exploring the UK’s largest array of properties for sale and rent, alongside our expanding suite of valuable tools.”
Svanstrom emphasized the company’s commitment to investing in technology and product enhancements to further benefit both partners and consumers. In 2024, 24 AI-driven teams of software engineers delivered over 5,000 updates, features, and improvements.
He concluded, “We have a clear strategy to further digitize the home-moving market, leveraging the UK’s most extensive property data and insights. There is significant potential to broaden and deepen Rightmove’s services on a unified platform, and our team is dedicated to maintaining this momentum into 2025.”
