Experian Hitwise UK Property Update

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Lindsay O’Gorman

Marketing Executive, Experian Hitwise

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EXPERIAN HITWISE PROPERTY UPDATE

Property websites experience first increase in traffic for over two years

Property website recovery is being led by London, the South East and the South West

Rightmove is the top UK property site, accounting for almost a quarter of visits

London, 11 November 2009 – Experian Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today reveals that UK Internet visits to property websites increased by 4.8% between October 2008 and October 2009. This is the first annual increase in UK Internet traffic to property websites for over two years. The online property market was one of the first areas to suffer as a result of the credit crunch back in autumn 2007, and by January 2008 visits to the category were contracting at an annual rate of 36.6%.

“Traffic to online property websites has been recovering gradually throughout 2009, but this is the first month that we have experienced an actual annual increase,” commented Robin Goad, Director of Research at Experian Hitwise. “The internet is the first place many people turn when looking to move house, but over the last couple of years a lack of inventory on many sites has put people off. If, as predicted, the recent house price increases reported by Nationwide and Halifax result in more properties coming onto the market, it is likely that online traffic will increase further. While an increase in supply may lead to a short term reduction in prices, any increase in listings should help property websites attract more visitors.”

Property website recovery is being led by London, the South East and the South West

The increase in UK Internet traffic to property websites is being driven by a growth in visitors from the south of England. During October 2009, people from London were 15% more likely to visit a property website than the UK average, while for both the South East and South West the figure was 9%. The parts of the UK with the lowest representation compared with their populations were Northern Ireland - which was one of the most popular parts of the country for property websites before the credit crunch - and Wales.

All of the top ten over-represented postal areas visits to property websites during October were in London or the South East, with London East Central (EC) and Bromley (BR) topping the list. At the other end of the spectrum, the list of the bottom ten was dominated by postal areas in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the North of England. Lerwick in Scotland (ZE) was the least represented postal area amongst UK visitors to property websites, while Durham (DH) was the lowest ranked English city.

UK Internet Visitors to Property websites by postal area, October 2009

Rightmove is the top UK property site, accounting for almost a quarter of visits

The UK online property market is dominated by portal pages, which accounted for the majority of the top ten sites within the category during October. The largest of these is Rightmove (www.rightmove.co.uk), which picked up 23.6% of visits to the category – nearly five times as many as its nearest competitors, Find a Property (www.findaproperty.com) and Primelocation (www.primelocation.com). The highest ranked individual estate agency websites during October 2009 were Your Move (www.your-move.co.uk, ranked 23^rd), Knight Frank (www.knightfrank.com, 26^th), Foxtons (www.foxtons.co.uk, 29^th) and Savills UK (www.savills.co.uk, 30^th).

Top 10 Property websites, ranked by market share of UK Internet visits during October 2009

About Experian Hitwise

Experian Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Experian Hitwise gives marketers a competitive advantage by providing daily insights on how 25 million Internet users around the world interact with more than 1 million Web sites. This external view helps companies grow and protect their businesses by identifying threats and opportunities as they develop. Experian Hitwise has more than 1,500 clients across numerous sectors, including financial services, media, travel and retail.

Experian Hitwise (FTS:EXPN), www.experianplc.com, operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and Brazil. More information about Experian Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.co.uk.

For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit the Experian Hitwise research blog at www.ilovedata.com and the Experian Hitwise Data Centre at www.hitwise.com/uk/resources/data-centre.

About Experian

Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 65 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to manage their credit relationships and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2009 was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and São Paulo, Brazil. 

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.