This week's news roundup can only start in one place, with a world-famous portal testing an AI tool on some of its listings, just to test the waters...
Rightmove, the market-leading real estate marketplace in the United Kingdom, is testing an AI-powered location tool in a small number of areas across Great Britain that aims to help potential buyers learn more about a home’s surrounding location at the point of sending a lead.
The tool, powered by Google's Gemini AI model, will run for a limited time in a select number of locations and will sit at the bottom of all property listings.
Tarah Lourens, Chief Technology and Operations Officer at Rightmove, said:
"We’re exploring a number of ways we can help agents and home-movers through AI technology. A natural step when looking at a property is to consider the surrounding location and its amenities, such as green spaces, particular schools or good transport links. Our hope is that this becomes an additional way for home-hunters to find out the information that they need about an area before sending a lead to an agent."
Zoopla, part of Houseful and the de facto number two portal in the United Kingdom, has entered a new long-term contract with Yopa, a nationwide agency network in the UK.
Under the terms of the deal, Yopa—which has circa 185 agents nationwide—will use Zoopla to drive performance for its listings and enhance marketing for its vendors. This includes using Premium Listings, which magnify the property features and unique selling points that Yopa would like consumers to take notice of and receive 9% more leads on average compared to a standard listing.
Interestingly, the press release said "Zoopla will look to support Yopa with its expansion and growth plans over the coming years, including the continued growth of Yopa’s franchise business and the roll-out of its newly launched brokerage model."
Alex Rose, Director of Sales at Zoopla said:
"We’re pleased that such a forward-thinking brand like Yopa has agreed a new long-term deal with Zoopla. Delivering ROI and value for money is a key focus at Zoopla and it’s great to see this approach validated through Yopa’s analysis. I look forward to working closely with the Yopa team to deliver additional innovation and ROI."
Yopa has struggled for profitability since being founded in 2014, but CEO Verona Frankish said the business is "on its way" to a profitable 2024/25 despite revenues from instructions dropping 20% YoY according to the firm's latest figures.
Irish portal MyHome has given its search experience a fresh coat of paint.
Amongst the benefits of the new search functionality are a more mobile-first approach to search, enabling users to find the properties they want quickly; and simpler and more intuitive filters, to allow the user to easily navigate to their preferred properties and localities.
MyHome.ie says the homepage refresh is the first in a number of new features set for release in the coming weeks and months.
The Japan-based real estate marketplace Suumo.jp is set to start displaying the energy-saving performance of homes on the secondary market.
According to a press release from the market-leading portal, properties on the secondary market will be labelled according to whether or not each home has energy-efficient components, such as windows or water heaters. It already shows the energy efficiency levels of newly built homes.
Ikemoto Yoichi, editor-in-chief at Suumo, said:
"The launch of the energy saving label is of great significance in Japan, where existing homes account for the majority of homes and energy conservation in housing lags behind Europe.
"We have promoted this initiative, believing it to be an important responsibility as a member of the real estate information site business association and as a service provider used by many people." [Translated from Japanese]
The Cambodian real estate portal Realestate.com.kh, which is owned by Digital Classifieds Group, has launched its version of the super app.
Dubbed 'Connect', Realestate.com.kh says the app makes property investment and home-buying more accessible and reliable by accommodating home movers as well as property professionals, investors and developers.
Realestate.com.kh recently opened its first physical office, also under the name "Connect".
Pakistani real estate portal Graana.com may be shuttering its marketplace in favour of a marketing service for new-build properties.
The portal appears to have shut down its marketplace and replaced its homepage with advertising for high-value developments.
The portal, Pakistan's number two behind Zameen, has operated a buying and renting marketplace since 2015 but ongoing political and economic challenges in the region may have reduced the feasibility of the model going forward; for context, market-leading portal Zameen reported revenues had halved in 2023 due to economic pressure.
Frontier Digital Ventures, the tri-continental marketplace operator publicly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) has released a trading update...
Read More
Scout24 SE, the owner of German real estate classifieds giant Scout24 Group, has released its financial statement for the third...
Read More
PropertyGuru shares have hit their highest price for a year as the Group prepares for privatisation by private equity firm...
Read More
Indian real estate marketplace NoBroker is reportedly being held to ransom after a data breach. Dubai-based cybercrime monitoring network Hackmanac...
Read More
