This week's Product Roundup starts in the United Kingdom ...
Zoopla has introduced electric vehicle (EV) charger search functionality, marking the first instance of a UK property portal adding EV-specific search filters.
The development, a collaboration with Vauxhall under the Electric Streets of Britain initiative, enables users to identify properties with home EV charging and to locate the nearest public charging points.
The updated website and app now allow users to filter listings for home EV chargers and display public charging locations using map data from Octopus Electroverse. Distance to the nearest public charger is shown alongside other location data such as schools and train stations.
According to Vauxhall-commissioned research of 2,000 UK drivers, 40% of respondents consider proximity to EV charging influential when moving home. One-third of respondents said a lack of charging would deter them from a property, rising to 84% among current EV owners. 54% of survey respondents said they would find value in seeing EV charging proximity within property listings.
Zoopla’s data shows that 1.6% of listings currently mention EV charging, indicating limited promotion of a feature with growing consumer relevance.
Rich Hayes, Chief Operating Officer at Zoopla, said:
"We’re proud to be the first property website to offer consumers the ability to find the nearest on-street chargers to a property, and filter properties with home-charging. By improving Zoopla’s search functionality, our aim is that we will empower more confident moving decisions, particularly for current and future EV owners."
Steve Catlin, Managing Director, Vauxhall, said:
"Moving house is one of the biggest decisions most of us make in our lifetime, and anyone who’s done it knows how much effort can go into finding the perfect home. As EVs become an even more common sight on our roads, more and more people will be prioritising charging access when thinking about where to live.
"Vauxhall is absolutely committed to electrifying Britain, so, as a leader in the property industry, Zoopla was the perfect partner to help drivers find a new home that will allow them to charge EVs with ease. Whether charging at home or on-street, we hope the features we have worked with Zoopla to introduce go some way to make decisions around buying and renting a new home that little bit easier for millions across the country."
Jitty, the AI-powered property search platform, has launched a feature that enables users to filter out properties without a floor plan.
Commenting on LinkedIn, CEO Graham Paterson said:
"People hate turning up to viewings or even just browsing without the full picture. So now if you only want to see homes that have floorplans, you can.
"There are so many things people want to search for but can't; everyone has their own unique pain points. For some people that's south-facing garden, for others it's a garage with space for two cars, for others it's having a hall/porch. One of the biggest changes in search experience will come when people can search by the characteristics of the area they want to see, from being quiet, to being great for dog walks."
Also this week, Jitty announced it has raised a $3.8 million seed round led by none other than REA Group. Read the full coverage here.
At Home Co., Ltd. has introduced an AI-driven feature to its residential property for sale search page on the At Home real estate information site. The functionality allows users to enter descriptive keywords, with the AI recommending up to 100 similar properties ranked by relevance.
The system enables prospective buyers to use non-standard search terms—such as “Scandinavian style” or “vintage”—to identify listings that include related characteristics. The feature is available across used apartments, detached houses, and land for sale.
The company previously implemented similar AI-based keyword matching for rental listings in April 2024. Following reported user engagement with that functionality, the approach has been extended to properties for sale. The update is positioned as a response to more diverse property search behaviours, particularly for buyers seeking to compare a wide range of options.
At Home states that users historically relied on preset conditions and facility checklists. By integrating free-text keyword input and AI analysis, the platform aims to improve the search experience and support more granular consumer preferences.
*Note: At Home is described as the real estate information site with the largest number of rental store listings, and its AI keyword analysis function was first deployed for rental store information.
Lifull HOME'S, a real estate and housing information service operated by LIFULL Co., Ltd., has introduced an image search function for users exploring custom-built homes in Japan.
The new feature leverages a library of construction images provided by home builders and construction companies, alongside images submitted by users, to support intuitive discovery of builders and construction firms aligned with individual design preferences.
The image search function now enables prospective buyers to browse by the desired “atmosphere” of a home, allowing a visual-first comparison across builders and construction companies.
Image search is supported by AI-driven style assessment, with construction images automatically categorised into five style segments, including Japanese and Japanese modern, as well as simple modern. Additional style categories will be introduced as the feature evolves.
Searches can also be refined by region, allowing users to identify companies capable of projects in specific locations.
Development of the function responds to the unique nature of the custom-built home segment, where no tangible properties are available for direct comparison at the search stage.
Keigo Masuo, CEO of Lifull HOME'S Business Division, Detached House and Custom Home Business, said:
“Among the real estate information provided by Lifull HOME'S, custom homes are the only category where there are no ‘properties’ available at the time of search. When it comes to rental properties, used properties, newly built detached homes and condominiums, it is possible to compare properties based on factors such as walking distance to the station, floor plan, price, and amenities, but with custom homes, the lack of ‘properties’ makes it difficult to compare and consider, and the user's knowledge and experience have a major impact on their search for a home builder or construction company.
"As very few users have experience building custom homes multiple times, most users spend a lot of time and effort gathering information through housing exhibitions, web searches, social media, books, etc., in order to find a home builder or construction company that suits them.”
To address these issues, Lifull HOME'S began publishing customer testimonials and images in March 2024.
As of July 2025, the platform features around 1,000 testimonials and approximately 10,000 user-submitted images. By aggregating company examples and customer images, the platform aims to reduce friction for buyers seeking an optimal match with home builders or construction firms.
Cian CEO Dmitry Grigoriev has told Forbes Russia that the real estate marketplace is working hard to moderate misleading and fake listings in hotspots on the coast.
Grigoriev said Cian will require sellers and agents to provide official information about properties, including their land registry number, though the CEO warned that even this may not be enough to identify whether the property has been sold recently.
"Sochi is one of the most problematic regions, not only for us but for all real estate sites. This is largely due to the business model in Sochi, where home hunters are offered ‘dream’ properties, but not all of them exist or are available."
Krasnodar—also on the Black Sea coast—is another property hotspot that scammers have targeted.
Grigoriev also revealed that Cian may approach other marketplaces to collaborate on initiatives to limit the exploitation of loopholes by fraudulent sellers.
Opendoor has introduced Cash Plus, a new product for home sellers and agents.
The service combines Opendoor’s Cash Offer model with the ability to list a home through an agent partner. According to the company, Cash Plus is designed to provide sellers with early access to a portion of their home equity, while still enabling exposure to the open market.
Cash Plus allows sellers to bypass showings, repairs, and negotiations by selling directly to Opendoor for immediate cash, typically within 14 days. Opendoor prepares the home for listing, covering upfront expenses and repairs. The property is then listed on the open market through local agent partners. If the home sells for more than the initial Opendoor offer, sellers receive additional proceeds after fees and expenses.
Nick Boniakowski, Head of Agent Partnerships at Opendoor, said:
"Cash Plus provides sellers the certainty of our Cash Offer and the opportunity to gain more by using a market listing. Now, our local agent partners can offer even more home-selling solutions and make optionality one of their differentiators for clients. Cash Plus leverages what Opendoor and its trusted agent partners do best — and bridges the gap between cash offers and traditional sales."
Carrie Wheeler, Chief Executive Officer at Opendoor, said:
"We are relentlessly focused on our mission to reinvent real estate in the U.S. — and Cash Plus is the latest example of our commitment to increasing choice, certainty, and flexibility in the home-selling process. With innovations like Cash Plus, we continue our strategic evolution, giving customers and agents the control they need and powering sustainable growth for our business."
Cash Plus is available to Key Connections agent partners in Dallas, Nashville, and Raleigh, with expansion planned for all Opendoor markets. The product launch follows recent releases of the Opendoor Key Agent platform and related applications.
Green Bay, Wisconsin's Protection and Policy Committee has given its unanimous approval for the launch of an online rentals marketplace, sponsored by the city itself.
Resembling a portal like Zillow or Apartments.com, the portal has been marketed as a "win-win-win" for renters, landlords and the city, and will run for an initial three-year period with the option to renew for an additional three years.
Housing assistance has been the most common type of request that social services have received between 2018-2024, more so than issues including food, substance abuse, jobs, education, transportation, and mental health. Indeed, housing issues were more numerous than the following four highest-ranking issues combined.
The new portal technology is set to be built by CityWise, a consultancy firm specialising in support for local governments looking to enhance public services. CityWise will be tasked with establishing a searchable database of properties and collecting fees.
The platform will be monetised by charging property listers for advertising their available properties for rent or subletting, and the platform will not allow third-party advertisements. The project will be funded by landlords who list more than 20 apartments per building, at a cost of $500 per month. All other properties will be free-to-list.
Similar portals already exist in other cities in Wisconsin, including Milwaukee, Kenosha and Oak Creek.
Co-founders Jeremy Schmidt and Dominic Anzalone have previous real estate experience at student renting platform College Pads.
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