OnTheMarket plc (LON:OTMP), the agent-backed company which operates the OnTheMarket.com property portal, today announced that, as at 30 October, it has listing agreements with UK estate and letting agents with more than 11,500 branches. This increase of more than 6,000 branches since Admission to AIM in February has been achieved in less than nine months.
OnTheMarket recently announced that Belvoir Lettings PLC, the UK’s largest property franchise, had agreed to advertise all of its Group’s UK residential sales and lettings properties at OnTheMarket.com, and will be actively promoting the portal brand with digital and branch-based marketing activity.
Ian Springett, Chief Executive Officer of OnTheMarket, said: “Our first stage of growth has been focused on rapidly expanding our agent base and we are pleased that the latest increase to 11,500 offices highlights the strength of agent support for an agent-backed portal. With a scalable portal, strong funding and a progressive ramping-up of marketing activity, growth since IPO has accelerated and momentum is continuing. This gives us confidence as we look to the coming months.”
New agents supporting OnTheMarket since Admission have ranged from Belvoir, with over 300 offices, to thousands of small, independent one to three office agent firms. Nearly 20 estate and letting agent firms with 7 or more branches have signed up to list all their properties at OnTheMarket.com and promote the brand since the Company’s IPO.
These 7+ office firms include: Kings Group, Richard James, Anthony Martin Estate Agents, Merryweathers, James Pendleton, Howkins & Harrison, Robert Oulsnam & Company, Pattinson, Millerson, H&H Land & Property, Fine & Country Midlands, Townends, Leftmove Estate Agents, Andrews, The Property Centre, Beals and Bidmead Cook.
OnTheMarket announced on 2 October 2018 that comparing September 2018 performance with February 2018, the company had doubled contracted agent offices to more than 11,000, trebled monthly visit traffic to more than 17.4 million visits* and quadrupled email and telephone leads to agents.
The growth in OnTheMarket’s agency branch base to date has been predominantly from offering free listings under short term introductory trial offers, with a view to converting these to full tariff contracts when the value of its offering has been demonstrated.
The sales team is continuing to see encouragingly high levels of agent support and conversion to signed contracts when it presents the opportunity of listing on an agent-backed portal.
* Visits comprise individual sessions on OnTheMarket.com’s web based portal or mobile applications by users for the period indicated as measured by Google Analytics. Data for leads generated is reported from the Company’s operating systems.
