With so many housing analysis property portals on the web, it has become difficult to really know which one really
isthe best at providing truly impartial information to enable property buyers to make the right decisions. Whilst a relatively new service, Zoopla has made great strides in its analysis and research methods as well as developing one of the UK’s first online auction platforms. Please see an interview with spokesman Lawrence Hall where we discuss the organisation’s new auction tool as well as the growth of the organisation, property valuation, and the future of buying property amongst other topics.
1) Firstly, can you give us a short explanation of what Zoopla is and how it can serve the needs of UK property investors? Zoopla.co.uk is the UK’s most comprehensive residential property website, focused on empowering users with the data they need to make better-informed property decisions. We combine property listings with market value data, local information and community tools.
2) Our readers would be aware of several online portals – what makes Zoopla particularly unique? Most online property portals are focussed on property ‘search’, helping users find homes currently on the market for sale. Zoopla.co.uk combines that service with property ‘research’ providing free, instant value estimates on every UK home, sold prices going back to 1995, local value data and trends and a number of other tools to help all buyers, including investors, do their homework.
Our recently launched online property auctions (see below), which are held every two weeks, also provide a unique opportunity for investors and are helping to transition the traditional model away from ballrooms to the internet, as investors can now bid from the comfort of their homes.
3) How has Zoopla.co.uk grown and changed since its initial inception? Zoopla.co.uk has grown at a faster rate than any other property website over the past two years since its launch and has become the second most-visited property website in the UK, with almost 5 million visits per month. We continue to lead the innovation in the online property space and remain focused on making the market more transparent and efficient for all parties concerned. Our mission is, and has always been, to provide the most useful online property resource.
4) How is the site maintained and kept current? We add thousands of new properties to search for and data points to research every single day – our data comes from a variety of sources including estate agents, the government and our users amongst others. Our value estimates are calculated using a proprietary algorithm (formula) that analyses millions of property data points including historic sales, current asking prices and property attribute data which are updated daily. We are constantly adding new features and services to make our service more useful and we recently added new search sort options along with the listings history of any properties listed for sale.
5) Many prominent housing industry commentators have, in recent times, stated that the presence of online agencies and portals is becoming increasingly important. What are your thoughts on this and do you believe that face-to-face contact between agents and buyers/sellers needs to be maintained and never out phased? Agents generally provide a highly valuable service to consumers and we see the agent intermediation of property transactions as an essential part of the process. How agents interact with buyers/sellers has and may continue to change as more and more information is readily available but there is no substitute for the knowledge and expertise of a local agent. We also see property portals as fulfilling an essential service in the buying process. With 9 out of 10 buyers starting their search online and not wishing to hunt in multiple places to find out what is available, portals continue to be the most effective and efficient place for buyers to search and source of leads for estate agents.
6) With your home values page, can you breakdown your criteria for how you deduce this figure – particularly as it is currently very difficult to find solid house sales due to the current low activity in the market? Our valuation estimates are our assessment of the market value of a home on any given day, using a proprietary algorithm that continuously analyses millions of data points relating to property sales and home characteristics throughout the UK. Our estimates are constantly refined, using the most recent data available and a variety of methodologies, in order to provide the most current information on any home. More information on our Zoopla estimates can be found here.
7) Can you give our readers some information as to how your auction service works? Our online auctions are transformational and have created a new way for buyers and sellers to transact openly. We hold live, online auctions every two weeks at Zoopla.co.uk/auctions and they run from a Thursday afternoon until the Sunday evening. Prospective buyers are able to view the property details several weeks in advance of the event, arrange viewings with the relevant agents and then place bids online during the event, at the end of which, the successful bidders exchange contracts, all online.
8)How would investors be able to engage in due diligence prior to bidding on the property? Our auctions are no different than traditional property auctions, except that they are online instead of in a ballroom. Since the property asset is not in the ballroom to be inspected in traditional auctions and any inspection and due diligence is conducted prior, the ballroom itself is somewhat obsolete. Investors can visit and inspect the properties in advance and also review any related information on our website including the legal pack and disclosure documents that can be found on the relevant property auction page.
9) How can the risks of buying an auction property online be minimised? Much the same as any other auction, the risks are reduced having done research in advance and understanding the asset you are bidding on. This is one of the advantages of Zoopla.co.uk, which provides access to much of the information necessary to determine fair market value and similar transactions.
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