Wall Street · FL Post Wire
Rightmove has said it is on track to grow its sales this year despite cautioning that home buyer affordability is being squeezed as mortgage rates rise and fewer homes are being built. The property portal said it was expecting yearly revenue growth, but trimmed its outlook. Conditions in the housing market and confidence among consumers and agents remain challenging, the company said.
The average five-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.5% at the end of October, compared with 5% at the end of June, it said. Furthermore, the Bank of England’s decision to hike its base rate on Thursday and expectations that borrowing costs will go up further next year is impacting consumer affordability. Rightmove said estate agent confidence was lower as a result, with buyer demand for resale properties down 10% and sales agreed 9% lower in the four months to the end of October.
It also flagged a 6% decline in the number of new home developments at the end of the month, compared with the end of last year. Rightmove’s partnership with NatWest will continue for three years (Alamy/PA) (Alamy/PA) However, the Government’s new First Homes scheme, announced in the autumn Budget , has improved housebuilder optimism but any boost to the volume of new homes is likely to come later in 2027, according to the firm. Rightmove, which makes money by charging estate agents a fee to list properties and from advertising, is expecting its revenues to grow by between 6% and 7% over 2026.
This is a slight downgrade from its previous guidance of between 6% and 8% revenue growth. It also trimmed the top-end of its guidance for growth in average revenue per advertiser, from £120 to £110, which it said entirely reflects housebuilders spending less on new homes. Chief executive Johan Svanstrom said highlighted the company’s efforts to innovate the platform and accelerate the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
“After a meaningful step up in capability, we have a well-invested, AI-ready platform,” he said. “We continue to roll out quality AI solutions to both consumers and partners, leveraging the intelligence layer we create with supply and demand data, and our platform.” Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell , said: “The property market may be struggling but Rightmove’s latest update was relatively robust. “The property listings site is seeing steady demand from estate agents but housebuilders, an increasing source of revenue in recent years, are spending less.” Mr Coatsworth said the fact that the Rightmove site has the most listings in the UK market gives it “pricing power” for securing subscriptions.
“However, as slowing growth in the average revenue per advertiser metric for the quarter shows, this pricing power is not unlimited,” he said.
Source: The Independent
