Former Jefferies residential analyst Anthony Codling has joined property search portal Rummage4Property as chief executive.
He will be responsible for leading the launch of the property portal early next year.
The UK start-up also announced backing from Barratt Developments, Bovis, Persimmon and Redrow, as well as Countrywide and 30 other estate agents listing homes on the portal.
The company was founded by Robert May in 2017.
Rummage4Property will seek to challenge the likes of market leaders Rightmove and Zoopla with an intuitive search tool for homebuyers, with listing rates dependent on house price growth.
It uses intelligent free text search technology to deliver customised results beyond basic postcode searches. The company has eight employees spread across the UK – in Cornwall, Devon, Bristol, Milton Keynes, Newcastle and London.
Codling previously worked as a residential analyst for Jefferies for more than six years, where he covered estate agents, housebuilders and property portals. He left the company in November.
“The search system is good – that’s why I left my day job to do this, I was blown away by it,” said Codling.
“You might be looking for a one-bed flat with a green door and a garden that is south-facing, and the way our search works is: if we have the property, we will show that to you.”
“It’s much more intuitive and we are already voice-ready,” he says. “We are more of an intel-inside brand, in that what we do is promote the estate agents and the housebuilders, rather than promoting the name of the portal. We recognise the power is in the listings.”
House price dependent rates
This ethos is built into the business model. Rummage4Property will charge agents a flat fee of £100 per month to list their properties, with annual revisions in line with house price changes. It means if house prices dip, the company’s rates and profits will drop correspondingly.
“You might think: why on earth would you link your fees to house prices. We want to share the pain and gain with estate agents and housebuilders,” said Codling.
He is confident that Rummage4Property’s improved technology, combined with a significantly lower price point, will attract agents and housebuilders, and this volume of listings, leveraged by smart search tools, will deliver traffic and sales.
The dominant market leader, Rightmove, currently charges on average £987 a month, according to interim results for the half year ending 30 June 2018. This compares with just £243 per month in 2007. The rate has increased fourfold; meanwhile, the average house price during this period rose by just 18%.
“That’s why estate agents and housebuilders are keen for there to be a challenger,” says Codling, also citing previous support for Zoopla’s mergers and the launch of OnTheMarket. “There’s definitely a demand for it.”
Digital remedies
“A lot of people talk about the UK housing market. I don’t think there is such a thing. There is a collection of hundreds and thousands of local housing markets,” says Codling.
He points out that more than half of estate agencies have just one or two branches: “They are small businesses.” He estimates there are around 25,000 estate agency branches across the country and around 3,500 new-build developments. But this could change.
Codling accepts the model is vulnerable to a market downturn. “It wouldn’t surprise me if house prices went down next year,” he said.
Rummage4Property is not only taking on the risk of declining house prices, but also an estate agency industry that is actively scaling back.
“Do I think the number of branches is going to reduce if the market continues to slow? Yes,” he said. Foxton is restructuring and closing branches and Humbert is also planning to create key hubs. “What that suggests to us is that estate agents are looking at ways of saving costs and we can help them to do that.”
Cutting-edge technology and big data central add to the offering. While the current priority is the launch, future enhancements may well include 3D images, and augmented technology, though virtual reality is currently not in the pipeline, it all comes down to consumer demand.
“We are not trying to set the agenda for what people search for; we are trying to let people search for what they want.”
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