Danish Rentals Marketplace Boligportal Benefits From Listings Surge in 2023 as It Invests in Adjacent Services

North Media, the parent company of Danish rentals marketplace Boligportal, has released a report on its activities for the fourth quarter of 2023. Relevant highlights from the report include:

• Boligportal revenue for 2023 was up 14% at DKKm 107
• Boligportal's EBITDA margin increased from 30% in 2022 to 37% in 2023.
• The number of Danish rental listings increased 10% year-on-year to 136k.

North Media owns and operates several diverse businesses in Denmark in addition to Boligportal, including last-mile delivery company FK Distribution, smart lock company Bekey and jobs portal Offir.

Boligportal operates a business model which sees it monetise both sides of the marketplace. Prospective renters can search for free but must pay for a membership if they wish to contact landlords and access certain features. The company also offers a service provider marketplace for tenants.

On the landlord side, listing is free but Boligportal charges extra for increased visibility in its search results. The portal also offers management services for landlords as well as data intelligence services.

According to North Media's annual report, Boligportal saw around 652,000 average visitors per month and listed 121,000 rentals of which 27,000 leases were signed. The company's sister portal in Sweden (Bostadsportal.se) saw 156,000 visitors on average and over 2,000 leases signed.

As for financial metrics, Boligportal's revenue increased 14% in 2023. The business has added adjacent products and services to its mix thanks to the acquisition of property management specialist Boligmanager in 2022. Those services provided 11% of the segment's total revenue in 2023 although development of the adjacent services business progressed slower than planned overall.

Whereas the company benefitted from a record-high number of rental units in Denmark, revenue from Sweden did not match expectations as the process of onboarding listings took longer than expected.

Looking ahead, North Media plans to continue to transform Boligportal from a simple marketplace business to a one-stop-shop for rentals "where all activities are fully integrated and make up a complete universe for tenants and landlords, offering an option to select the services that match the demand of the individual customer".

The company expects modest revenue growth in 2024 with profits in line with those of 2023 as it continues to invest in the platform and adjacent products and services as well as its expansion into Sweden.