Rightmove Removes Property Count Claims after MyPorta Challenge

Rightmove has removed several allusions to its number of properties for sale and rent after a challenge from MyPorta.

The AI-powered property search platform, which officially launched in the UK last month, previously challenged meta descriptions on Rightmove's main For Sale and To Rent pages promising "over 900,000 properties for sale" and "over 200,000 properties to rent". MyPorta says public archives date the wording back to 2010 and that it stayed in place until MyPorta raised the issue in September.

Rightmove has since changed the descriptions, telling Estate Agent Today: "This related to a small number of historic meta descriptions embedded within our website, which have since been updated."

MyPorta hit back at Rightmove's explanation of its now-removed property-count claims, arguing that the portal's description of them as "historic" wording does not square with its own site records.

MyPorta's latest press release takes issue with that on three counts. First, it argues that while only two pages were involved, they were among the most prominent on the site, drawing millions of clicks a month from Google and other search engines over 16 years.

Second, it points to archived versions of both pages. According to MyPorta, the figures were present on 23 April 2025, replaced a week later with wording that did not include them, and back again by 20 May 2025. MyPorta suggests the U-turn may have followed a dip in traffic, though it offers no evidence for the motive.

Third, MyPorta says that as of 26 October, Rightmove's live new homes page still carried a meta description promising over "900,000 new build" properties, which does not match the now-changed descriptions.

Mal McCallion, founder and chief executive at MyPorta, said:

"Rightmove's attempt to handwave the significance of its claims to 1.1m listed properties over 16 years doesn't survive contact with reality.

"This is not victimless. Deceiving consumers with inflated numbers stops them seeing the whole market, deprives competitor portals of their own traffic and makes it easier for Rightmove to charge more in agent fees per year for the same service—in this case 355% more over the 16 years [£379 in 2010 against £1,726 in 2026].

"Rightmove claimed it had 1.1m properties ‘for sale’ and ‘to rent’. Consumers were entitled to take those words at face value. To find the same promises in archives from 2010 still being used without any proof in 2026 is deeply troubling."

The spat is the latest chapter in McCallion's long-running campaign against Rightmove, which began with his "Rightmove Resistance Tour" of agents in 2025. MyPorta, which is free for agents to list on, claims to have 27% more available properties than Rightmove.