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Property Portals See Surge in New Year Traffic

By Ashley Rigg
Reprinted with permission from Global Edge

English-language overseas property portals reported record increases in traffic and enquiry levels in the first seven days of 2010.

U.K. market leader, Rightmove recorded its biggest-ever day on 4th January attracting over 25 million page impressions, beating the previous record set in August 2009 of 22.5 million. Traffic to Rightmove Overseas is up nearly 25 percent on the first week of 2009 according to head of overseas sales Shameem Golamy.

Overseas property specialists, The Move Channel, Mondinion.com, HolProp.com, PropertyShowrooms.com and Property-Abroad.com are also reporting big rises in traffic and enquiry levels on the same period last year. The Move Channel say traffic is 32 percent up, while at Property Abroad, lead volumes rose 38 percent year-on-year according to founder Les Calvert.

The best news comes from Spanish overseas property specialists Kyero.com and ThinkSPAIN who report increases in enquiry volumes of 63 percent and 68 percent respectively on the same period last year. ThinkSPAIN founder Bernie Walker is not surprised by the figures: “We have been tracking the increase in traffic for several months now and are of the opinion that the Spanish property market is once again rising and expect this trend to continue.”

Although the news will be music to the ears of overseas agents and developers, it is important to keep in mind that increases in traffic and enquiry numbers are from an unusually low base, as 2009 was a dog of year for so many in the industry.

Although Rightmove and Mondinion are reporting lifetime records in traffic numbers, The Move Channel’s director Dan Johnson is more cautious: “Traffic and enquiry levels are significantly up on both 2009 and 2008 but not 2007, 2007 was a different life.”

Another explanation for the jump in enquiries could be the arctic weather conditions that have swept across many parts of Northern Europe and North America. With people finding it more difficult to go about their usual daily routines, it may be that they are spending more time than usual, surfing the web for property.

The bad weather and low starting point of 2009 no doubt have something to do with the rises but it is also probable that there is something more tangible about the increases. Positive news on the economy and property prices in the media (in the UK at least) have arguably convinced a number of people to jump back on the overseas property bandwagon, even if it is in smaller numbers than 2007.

Ashley Rigg is founder of London-based Global Edge, the Web portal for agents and developers.

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