OnTheMarket to be renamed, CoStar boss reveals

The CoStar and founder of CoStar Group, which owns OnTheMarket, says the UK property portal, which his firm acquired last year for £99m, could be rebranded ‘Homes.com’ and may sponsor the new Manchester Utd stadium.

Speaking at the Proptech and Portal Watch conference in Barcelona, the long-serving CEO told Online Marketplaces’ chairman Simon Baker that he is willing to be patient to take market share off of Rightmove via OnTheMarket.

The CoStar boss also said he is not interested in buying Rightmove or Zoopla, before asserting that OnTheMarket is now ahead of Zoopla by number of leads delivered to agents.


He said: “Rightmove is operating at a margin I would never be comfortable operating at, you’re super vulnerable by operating at 74% – it means you’re not working towards growth and you’re not building for the future.


“Agents in the United Kingdom express overwhelmingly to me that they are dissatisfied with the way the pricing works there.


“Rightmove has suggested it will increase prices by 35% in the next couple of years – what additional value are they offering for that increase? It’s questionable.


“We [CoStar] represent the competition.”


Florance also hinted that the portal could be rebranded under the Homes.com banner letting slip in a hypothetical scenario that Manchester United could soon be playing at the “Homes.com stadium”.


Florance was highly critical of portals’ willingness to “step on the faces” of their customers without consequence, and said OnTheMarket will differentiate itself by respecting agents.


“I am fascinated by the concept that intelligent people believe that market share can never shift in the portal world. If you don’t treat the customers well, the customers will seek another solution.


“There are a number of companies operating on the premise that you can do whatever you want to the customer, and they will take it and they will be your victim, and you can just step on their face.


“One of the first things we will do to differentiate ourselves from the other players is to treat the customers with respect. If you treat your customers with respect while your competitors are abusing them, that’s a competitive differentiator. We plan to provide choice to customers.”