Rightmove Leans Further Into Auctions

Leading British property portal Rightmove has announced four additional auction providers for its platform.

Since April Rightmove has offered agents the opportunity to integrate their listings with the iam sold platform and offer conditional auctions (otherwise known as The Modern Method) for their listings.

The Modern Method of Auctions is a process that speeds up home sales providing conveyancing and legal documentation before the auction begins. It has been criticised by some homeowner associations as being murky with concerns around the transparency of the fees that the buyer must pay (typically a non-refundable 5% of purchase price).

Four rival MMA providers (SDL Property Auctions, Pattinson Auctions, GOTO Group and Bamboo Auctions) have now signed up to the program and will offer their services via Rightmove. Agents who have already contracted their services will now have their listings enhanced on the portal free of charge.

The enhancements include information about how MMA works, close to real-time information on current bids and an easy way to contact the selling agent.

In initially leaning into the Modern Method of Auction, Rightmove was following in the footsteps of its market rival Zoopla which launched the functionality through iam sold back in 2020. Despite having detractors on both the agent and consumer sides, this type of auction is becoming more popular in the UK.