Rightmove has reported a positive start to the year for its mortgage business in its latest trading update.
In its first quarter update Righmove said that AI-led optimisation was helping to improve the mortgage journey for consumers, leading to better outcomes for its partner businesses in the mortgage market.
Rightmove launched its first broker mortgage product last year, by allowing customers to access mortgage advice through its portal. It says this has helped drive a 130% increase in its mortgage business.
Its mortgage business remains one of Rightmove’s strategic growth areas. It said this, along with its commercial and rental services businesses are “performing in line with expectations”.
Its update stated that it has also been a key investor in Coadjute — a platform that aims to digitise the home-moving process and to make it more efficient for consumers, agents and the wider industry. Rightmove is a co-investor alongside Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and NatWest.
Despite the problems in the housing market, Rightmove said it retains its leading position in the housing buying sector. It said that 80% of all consumer time spent on UK property portals is on Rightmove, adding that users remain highly engaged: with 8m opting into its marketing. Its update said it also sent 19m leads to agent partners.
Within its estate agency business, Rightmove said net membership increased by 250 since the 2023 year end. It said this increase is positive for revenue and profit, and provides increased consumer choice on its site.
Rightmove said it was optimistic about a housing market recovery, with its most recent property price index showing the average asking prices for property continued to edge upwards, with annual house price growth of 1.7%, the highest for a year.
Rightmove CEO Johan Svanstrom says: “Overall, we continue to expect a better year for the UK property market in 2024 than in 2023. Within that, we see different dynamics across the many segments that we serve, with particular strength in resales.”
