The Meteoric Rise Of Thinkproperty.Com

The thinkproperty.com consumer property portal, has reported experiencing phenomenal growth over the last 18 months, leaping from rank 420 in Hitwise’s Business and Finance – Property category, to rank number three in December 2007 based on share of UK visits. thinkproperty.com now welcomes over 2 million unique users a month (Source: Hitbox, March 2008) and forecasts show that users will grow by 50% in 2008.

thinkproperty.com holds over 600,000 properties from the UK and overseas and is currently working with over 6,000 agents who are uploading their stock to the site and benefit from an increasing number of leads originating from the property portal.

thinkproperty.com believe that the major factor separating the firm from the rest of the major players in the property market is that since its launch in 2006, the site has constantly strived to lead the way in innovative functionality, with the continual development of its offerings to both estate agents and home movers. Since the launch an interactive Google map has lain at the heart of the site’s search functionality, highlighting the location of properties in a visual format. This functionality was first to market amongst the major property portals and attracted many new and loyal users.

Enhanced Google functionality was introduced a few months after the initial site launch, with the introduction of innovative Google map overlays. thinkproperty.com also provides topline data on the most recent performance of schools, with percent figures on the number of pupils that have reached Government performance targets and a url link to the full performance report. The new thinkproperty.com Google map overlays also include information on mainline railway stations and hospitals, whereby site users can find key local information and contact details at the touch of a button, all displayed clearly on a map.

thinkproperty.com was also the first property portal to fully embrace Web 2.0 functionality as a core part of its strategy. The functionality also included the ability for visitors to save their searches and receive instant updates on new instructions.

Other innovative features on thinkproperty.com include ‘Video Tour’, which gives home movers an enhanced visual experience of each property advertised. Tours can be created from existing images, providing seamless integration. Over 95% of UK properties listed on the portal now have an exclusive ‘Video Tour’.

All of the new enhancements to thinkproperty.com are designed to increase both property viewing dwell time and emotional engagement. thinkproperty.com has already experienced a massive 60% increase in dwell time since the launch of ‘Video Tours’.

Mark Goddard, Managing Director of thinkproperty.com, commented: "We are still experiencing tremendous growth in site traffic as we continue to gather momentum in building our market share of the online property audience. The largest portal still only receives 20% of available traffic, which leaves a huge opportunity for players like us."

He continued, "We are delighted with the success of thinkproperty.com so far and are looking forward to reaching our next goal of 3 million unique users over the next 12 months. We are very excited about the prospects for this year and will see ongoing growth and development in the site."

The portal remains a very affordable advertising medium, and for many estate agents, it is becoming the second option to the leading player.

Ends

About thinkproperty.com
At thinkproperty.com, usability is at the heart of what the sites does on all development. The site was designed to be clean and simple in order to give homemovers a fresh, new approach to property portals.

thinkproperty.com is wholly owned by GMG Property Services Group, a division within Guardian Media Group, one of the UK's leading multimedia companies.

For further information, please contact:
Karen Hughes
The Drum Consultancy
18 Soho Square
London
W1D 3QL
Tel: +44 (0)20 7025 8044
Fax: +44 (0)20 7025 8100
www.thinkproperty.com