One of the growing number of free to list property portals, Residential People, claims a record-breaking number of sales and letting enquiries in August.
The figures suggest it delivered 150,000 sales and lettings enquiries to its agents across the UK.
Director Christopher May says: “We have been established for well over two years now and have seen unprecedented support from agents since our inception. We have always endeavoured to deliver a viable alternative to fellow portals on the marketplace. This vision has been our driving force behind our launches in the UK as well as other key markets such as UAE, South Africa and India.”
The portal – which has a target of 10m listings by the end of 2021 and one million enquiries by the end of March next year – says it is now working on a new Artificial Intelligence platform which it describes as having been “co-developed with agents over the last two years.”
May says: “Our clever AI data platform is currently being beta tested and will be ready to launch in December. The platform will help local agents stand out in their respective areas like never before. We aim to not only offer agents more visibility but also provide them with powerful tools to help market their brand and increase their revenue exponentially.”
The portal says that because of the financial impact of Coronavirus on the industry, and the growing importance of brand awareness and financial stability, the new platform will “place greater emphasis on these aspects while striking a balance between driving down an agent’s marketing costs without sacrificing enquiries. “
And he adds: “Gone are the days of blind advertising such as door-to-door mail delivery and listing on expensive property portals. With our new platform, we guarantee that any agent who uses the system will dominate their chosen area within 12 months.The launch of the new platform is coming soon, and we urge interested agents to become early adopters to enjoy the preferential terms.”
Commercial People – the parent company of the residential portal – also operates a commercial property portal with the specific name Commercial People.
Last month the OneDome Group – which operates the OneDome and Nethouseprices websites, also free-to-list – reported a combined 1.7m unique monthly visitors in July, up from 1.5m in June.
During July the OneDome websites also generated 170,000 buyer and tenant leads for agents.
It says strong activity levels have been down to a combination of the stamp duty holiday and the continued release of pent-up demand following lockdown.