Rightmove, the platform for estate agents, has said that it managed to grow both revenue and profit despite people spending less time house-hunting as mortgage rates soared last year.
The business said it had grown revenue by around 10% to £364.3 million, mainly because it managed to charge its estate agent customers more to use the site. Pre-tax profit rose 7.7% to £259.8 million.
Average revenue per advertiser rose by 9% and the business last year got around £1,431 per month from its customers. It expects the average advertiser to pay another £100-£110 more this year.
It came as the potential house buyers that estate agents use Rightmove to reach actually spent less time on the platform. In the year people spent a total of around 15.4 billion minutes on the site – that is around 257 million hours, or 29,000 years. That is less than the 16.3 billion in 2022.
It came as house sales in the UK dropped last year from 1.2 million in 2022 to 1.0 million in 2023. Earlier this week, Zoopla forecast that sales would tick back up to 1.1 million in 2024.
This came as mortgage prices jumped as the Bank of England raised its base interest rate in an attempt to try to control inflation.
Some estate agents also abandoned Rightmove during the year, with membership down 1% to 18,785, a reduction of 229. It expects customer numbers to drop again this year as the economic climate remains uncertain.
“In a year of economic uncertainty, consumers continued to trust Rightmove as the place to turn to help them make their move,” said chief executive Johan Svanstrom.
“Customers were able to choose from an expanded, more sophisticated product suite, to continue to drive business results in a changing market environment.”
He added: “We reshaped our strategy during 2023, setting out a plan to further digitise the property sector, expand our business, stretch our brand and accelerate the financial performance long term.
“We are looking forward to 2024 with confidence and to delivering further value to all stakeholders on our platform, progressing the ambitious Rightmove strategy.”