Is OnTheMarket the only portal to challenge Rightmove & Zoopla

Reading in the national press they would assume that there are only two portals to consider when looking for properties to buy or rent across the UK. So is OnTheMarket the only portal to challenge Rightmove & Zoopla?

National Property Portals like Rightmove, Zoopla and now OnTheMarket

It’s pretty clear to say there is an obvious barrier to entry into the national portal marketplace. Unless you have a bucket load of cash and a clear strategy of differentiation from Rightmove it’s a hard market to break. I’m not saying it cannot be broken. You only have to look at the way Aldi have managed to muscle their way to steal some market share from major supermarket players to see it is possible. However, you need to have a clear strategy that can differentiate you from the main players.At the moment I’d be inclined to agree that the national portal market is dominated by Rightmove and Zoopla. So why has OnTheMarket entered the fray? Well, it appears some agents weren’t becoming disenchanted with the offering of the other two as costs continued to spiral. I could talk more about this, but that would be for another article.

You should use regional Property Portals

There are certainly plenty of other property portals around, most of which are trying to become major national players. However, there are others which have started locally covering specific regions. Would be buyers or renters should not rule out searching these regional property portals. Most properties, not all will be advertised via the two big national portals. Yes, not all will be! Granted this will be a small percentage of homes. Would you rule out searching these local niche portals? You shouldn’t as you may just find what you are looking for.

Early days yet to see if OnTheMarket can become a national player

It’s very early days yet to see whether OnTheMarket can snatch significant market share from Rightmove and Zoopla to become a major national player as a property portal.