OnTheMarket blamed in latest ‘open letter’ for drop in sales and instructions

In an attack on OnTheMarket, estate agency trainer Richard Rawlings has blamed the new portal for the decline in sales volumes and new instructions.

Rawlings released to the trade press an “open letter” late on Friday evening – in a pattern of timing similar to other open letters attacking OnTheMarket.

Rawlings says the open letter is also being released to the consumer press today.

But it has already come under fire, with one agent saying: “To blame OTM for lack of stock is ridiculous.”

Another, London agent Ed Mead, said the idea that portals control the property market was so far-fetched as to be absurd.

The letter is addressed to OTM boss Ian Springett and signed by Rawlings and his fellow director Dr Bradley Payne, a statistician.

In it, they claim to have identified that OTM’s “one other portal” policy is “directly contributing to the current decline in transaction volumes in the UK, albeit inadvertently”.

The pair call on Springett to withdraw the one other portal rule “for the sake of our industry and prospective home-movers alike”.

Rawlings – himself a former estate agent – and Payne argue that before OTM, buyers assumed that most properties would be on either Rightmove or Zoopla and did not portal hop.

They cite research which says that 80% of home buyers use only one portal, and that consumers did not think they needed to go on multiple portals to check.

The pair say far fewer properties are now duplicated on both Rightmove and Zoopla – but the consumer is unaware of this.

They say that buyers are simply not being exposed to the same number of properties as before.

They allege that this has led to a decline in transactions and new instructions.

Many people, they say in their letter, are not bringing their house to market, or are withdrawing it, because they do not believe they will find anywhere to buy.

They conclude that OTM has “shot the industry it seeks to serve, along with the consumer, in the foot”.

The letter ends by saying: “This problem could be quickly corrected if the one other portal rule were to be lifted, and on behalf of the industry and consumer alike, I would urge you to drop it to prevent further disruption to the industry and restore normal market conditions.”

A rationale follows the letter.

Notably, neither the rationale nor the letter makes any reference to other influences on the housing market. Only OTM is blamed for lack of stock.

EYE asked Rawlings if he had a commercial tie-up with any other portal, but he refuted this.

We also asked him why had chosen to write an open letter when he could have written privately to Springett.

Rawlings said: “I don’t specifically need a response as such. It was just an observation and I wanted to raise awareness of the issue, informing and engaging agents, and hopefully prompting a shift of policy with their support.”

A spokesperson for OTM declined to make any comment on the letter.

Ed Mead, executive director at Douglas & Gordon and a director of Agents’ Mutual, told EYE: “For board members of OTM the slack of what was expected to be a short-term lessening of lead numbers has been taken up by an increase from Rightmove, meaning that overall leads, according to our research, have not changed from 12 months ago.

“We expect this to continue but with a bigger percentage of leads coming from OTM.

“Clearly you can’t build an alternative in only eight months.

“I know Richard well and am surprised, as an agency trainer, that he can’t see one of the biggest issues here – taking ownership and control of our data.

“Data is where the future, and value, lies. If Amazon Prime directly contacted the makers of the products their advertisers sell, and they could, surely the shops that use Amazon’s online service would feel threatened at the very least.

“Indeed, if Richard scratches the surface a bit he’ll discover that many of these sellers complain bitterly about fees Amazon charge as well. Sound familiar?

“Unlike disparate shop sellers that Amazon can divide and conquer, estate agents are beginning finally to talk to each other and together can offer an alternative that serves the property buying public with just that – property.

“Portals have divided and conquered and are merely interested in making money. They are listed companies, and making money out of customers’ data – why do you think Zoopla bought uSwitch?

“The biggest latent value for these outfits is data they are currently collecting from us – and we are paying them to do that! How daft is that.

“BUT imagine if all agents could reach all buyers via one website that they ran for consumers.

“Well, you don’t have to imagine it. It’s here and if all agents were on it, the public would be perfectly served and jobs, best practice and service would be maintained, in their best interests.

“Whilst I respect Richard’s views, and him as a person, to try and imply that portals control the property market is so far-fetched – they’re an advertising medium – as to be absurd.

“Markets, and volumes, go up and down and there are plenty of simple politico-economic reasons for this year’s slowdown.

“As it is, the rather more important out-of-London national market is thriving which is good news for all.

“If Richard wants to call me after reading this, he has my number.

“It might be less damaging than trying to have the argument in public.”

Rawlings’ entire letter, exactly as released to the trade press, is attached.

open letter OTM

Originally posted here.

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