OnTheMarket Reports Agent Numbers up by 1000+ since CoStar Takeover

UK challenger OnTheMarket (OTM) has reported a major surge in agent numbers since its £100 million takeover by CoStar Group in December.

The portal says the new agents equate to circa 57,000 new listings on its platform, and an 81% increase in monthly leads to agents.

It's a big win for OTM given its fairly static performance since its foundations in 2015, and the boost in popularity will no doubt give CoStar CEO Andy Florance a sense of vindication as he embarks on a multi-year, multi-million-pound war against Rightmove's strong position in the market.

Jason Tebb, former CEO and now President of OTM, said:

"As these results show, we are making tremendous progress with our strategy of becoming the leading agent-friendly platform in the UK residential marketplace.

"We believe that we are now the fastest growing residential portal in the UK in a very small space of time following the acquisition of the business.

"We have initiated the first phase of a multiyear program to drive consumers to OnTheMarket which will significantly increase the quality of valuable leads to our agents at fair and sustainable prices.

"We believe we can create the number one property portal in the UK, leveraging CoStar Group’s expertise and resources."

Nevertheless, OTM will need much more than agent signups to compete with Rightmove, which today released its typically strong full-year results.

But with CoStar's promise to invest heavily in marketing in the coming years, including a budget of £46.5 million for 2024 alone, the reality is that the so-called portal war that CoStar started in the U.S. is grinding into gear on the other side of the Atlantic.