
Rightmove has revealed its ambition to become a big player in the rental market by using a raft of new tools and features for letting agents.
Rather than just being somewhere to advertise properties to rent, the UK’s largest property portal is investing in technology that will do some of the heavy lifting for agents such as during onboarding.
Its latest trading statement explains how it will build on recent initiatives such as Rental Operators and Agent Accelerator, which helps new agents with setting up, training, winning and listing their first property.
Rightmove has recently introduced Renters Checklist - a real-time assistant and live tracker to "reduce friction and improve transparency" in the lettings process, for those renting through an agent signed up to Tenancy Manager.
It is also trialling offering Enquiry Manager for businesses to "provide digital productivity enhancements, and scale engagement with downstream services" as well as Enhanced Leads - a tool to share additional information on would-be tenants which is now fully integrated into partner CRM systems.
AI Keywords are now being used, enabling consumers to search by hundreds of smart tags, such as ‘exposed brick’, ‘river views’ or ‘underfloor heating’.
CEO Johan Svanstrom says: “We are already working on a wide range of exciting AI-enabled innovations for the benefit of our partners and consumers and see vast potential utilising our leading reach and connected data.”
Rightmove reports that the rental market continues to see an imbalance between supply and demand, with rental prices ahead of last year but with reducing rent growth and demand. There were, on average, 11 enquiries per available property between July and October, lower than the equivalent period in 2024 but still above the pre-Covid annual average of six to seven.
The firm expects to see revenue growth of 8-10% in 2026 and underlying operating profit growth of 3-5%.
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