Product and Services Roundup: Rightmove Tests ChatGPT

Another big-name portal is the latest to play with ChatGPT in this week's Product Roundup...

United Kingdom: Rightmove testing ChatGPT app

Rightmove has developed an app for launch on ChatGPT, and will initially run as an experiment increase the company's understanding of how users want to interact with property during the early stages of their search.

The app will enable users to search for properties for sale and rent, including new-build and built-for-rent homes, using natural, conversational language directly within the ChatGPT interface. In response, ChatPGT will supply consumers with a carousel of the best match properties from live Rightmove listings.

Users will be directed to the Rightmove platform for full property details, filters, tools, and contact details for agents and developers.

Tarah Lourens, chief technology and operations officer at Rightmove, said:

“We’re constantly innovating to evolve the Rightmove home-moving experience, increasingly using AI to enhance the property search experience by leveraging our market leading data, with the UK’s largest selection of homes. We are excited to see how these products help to drive discovery as well as specification of interest, both of what bring useful value to our agent and developer partners.

“Alongside the ongoing innovation and tools on Rightmove’s site, we’ve chosen to build an app to sit within ChatGPT. We will test and learn how ChatGPT users engage in the early stages of their property journey, acting as a stepping stone to the full and comprehensive property search experience on Rightmove.”

Anthony Codling, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, commented:

“Whilst some are fearful of what ChatGPT and other AI tools and LLMs mean for Rightmove, Rightmove sees opportunity to combine the AI Giants’ compute power with its own data powerhouse. Rightmove has more property data than any other UK property portal, and we believe it is the first of the major portals to build and submit an app specifically for use with ChatGPT."

Europe: Leboncoin interview outlines ChatGPT app in more details

Leboncoin has revealed some of the reasoning behind its recent ChatGPT app launch, the first by a major real estate marketplace in France, in an interview with ImmoMatin.

Some of the benefits of ChatGPT search, said the portal, were giving users the freedom to search via text or voice for a simpler, contextual, and personalised user experience. On the agent side, the portal said ChatGPT offers a significant acquisition channel delivering high-quality leads, while giving agents more visibility for their listings.

Sophie Bourg, Operational Marketing Director at Leboncoin, said:

"What advantages do real estate agencies gain from this new environment? A new acquisition channel, a new traffic hub. Indeed, real estate project owners structure their searches differently here, using natural language in ChatGPT. This allows our clients to have highly qualified leads. It's also an additional selling point they can use with their seller clients. Thanks to this application, their listings are now accessible via conversational search, offering additional visibility for their property."

Julien Joualt, CTO at Leboncoin, said:

"This project is aimed at artificial intelligence enthusiasts, and in particular ChatGPT users, and more broadly at all those who are looking for new ways to interact with websites and technology. leboncoin thus facilitates access to its catalogue and offers a smoother, more intuitive and simpler search experience on a daily basis." [Translated from French]

Bien'Ici says web visits were up 14% in 2025 as new campaign launches

Bien'ici has launched a nationwide advertising campaign in France after celebrating a record year that saw web visits to the portal hit 220 million, up 14% year-on-year.

According to reporting by MySweetImmo, Bien'Ici had 20.7 million visits, up 10% year-on-year, in January 2026.

The new campaign will focus attention on the portal's interactive 3D map, while also celebrating its close ties to professional agents in France (the portal does not allow FSBO listings).

David Benbassat, President of Bien'ici, said:

"Our excellent results at the start of this year give us the necessary momentum to champion this new message. This campaign is not just a showcase; it's a concrete demonstration of our mission: to offer an unparalleled search experience while protecting the interests of professionals."

Austria's Willhaben to restructure its advertising spend

The Austrian horizontal classifieds platform Willhaben will significantly reduce its advertising budget to focus on native ads for its real estate listings.

According to a press release:

Willhaben is implementing an uncompromising reduction of the advertising density within the largest digital marketplace in the country, which in the future will rely exclusively on contextually relevant advertising. Additional quality improvement is also to be achieved through a radical deletion of large-scale forms of advertising.

Sylvia Dellantonio, managing director at Willhaben, said:

"Anyone who has followed willhaben's previous philosophy in the field of digital advertising knows that relevance for the respective target group has always been a particularly fundamental building block for our services and products.

"We want to, and will only, place messages where they offer the highest added value for our users and thus also for our advertising partners, even if this means in turn that certain digital advertising concepts will no longer be offered in the future." [Translated from German]

Jochen Schneeberger, Head of Digital Advertising at Willhaben, added:

"We want to continue to live up to our 'best in class' claim in the future and continue to offer a play a leading role as a partner of the domestic advertising world. Our deliberate reduction of advertising density increases awareness and effectiveness of messages that are relevant to our users. The placement in the immediate environment of our offer also maximises the advertising impact.

"The new, native Advertising formats are integrated even more harmoniously into our content if the user experience is to be improved and thus increase acceptance and attention to the content. This is advertising that works, rethought." [Translated from German]

idealista opens additional office in Italy

Idealista has opened another office in Italy, this time in Rome, to complement its existing operations in Milan and Treviso, serving approximately 140 employees.

In a post on the company's LinkedIn page, idealista said:

We believe in a growth model based on proximity, innovation and an integrated ecosystem capable of accompanying the real estate market at every stage: from visibility to data enhancement, up to services to support professionals. Being closer means creating more value. [Translated from Italian]

OLX launches AI for property search

OLX has launched CompassGPT, a conversational search for real estate, for its Portuguese real estate brand, Imovirtual.

Users can search using plain language, including budget and other preferences, with CompassGPT providing search results that show pros and cons.

CompassGPT is only available through ChatGPT's Imovirtual app, while it has also been launched for car sales via AutoIQ in Poland.