How Rightmove became ‘The Argos catalogue for adults’

‘Yeah, we’re all on Rightmove,’ was the consensus left by nearly 10,000 commenters. One user described it as ‘the adult version of circling toys in the Argos catalogue’, while others admitted to searching for million-pound homes they’d never be able to afford, just for the thrill of it.

Last year, Rightmove swallowed up 80% of all consumer time spent on UK property portals, with almost 9,400 property views every minute. For many, browsing the site has become a habit or an escape from daily life.

Georgia adds: ‘I tend to look at houses that we could realistically one day buy. I’m a realistic dreamer,’ she says. ‘But I’ve always wanted to live in Greece. I look at houses in Corfu, Crete and Rhodes, and I totally picture myself there.

‘I put in the search parameters for the dream house. It would be “X” number of bedrooms, more than one bathroom, and I will go into granular detail – I really want a utility room or a wall oven.’

Georgia also finds her habit reassuring. ‘I find it comforting that if we had to sell our house for whatever reason, we could just up and leave and pay cash up north.’

Anya Griffiths, 25, only bought her one-bedroom property in York last year together with her partner, but she spends at least once a week on Rightmove imagining her potential future. 

Like Georgia, she also looks at homes she might be able to purchase one day. ‘I’m not looking at mansions that are millions of pounds. What I enjoy about it is the feasibility of what’s out there.’

She tends to be quite pragmatic in her searches and sets herself ‘semi-realistic parameters’. She adds: ‘The rationale in my head is: within the next 10 years, maybe I could live in a property like this.’

Working in academia, Anya browses properties close to York University or even filters her searches to have a garden that her cat might enjoy. Still, she adds: ‘It’s years off being my actual lifestyle’.

Why do we like looking at property websites so much?

There are several reasons why people spend time browsing online property sites, Catherine Jansonn-Boyd, a professor of consumer psychology, tells Metro.  

For many, it’s ‘pure curiosity’, as people will search for properties they simple want to get a look inside of. ‘Often people will look at houses in the nearby area where they live, or maybe that they’ve walked past. It’s a bit like spying,’ she says.

This curiosity can become addictive to some. ‘It’s almost like playing a game. You’re kind of hooked on it after a while. You start to challenge yourself mentally and think, maybe I could do this or live here.

‘It takes you away from reality. It’s pure escapism.’

It’s possible to get a dopamine rush from searching, similar to the high you might get from retail therapy. ‘It’s quite common with people who are shopping for things, even if they are window shopping,’ she explains.

Others will browse the site for inspiration. Catherine explains: ‘It might be better than going online and looking at general pictures. Here, you know the layout of the house. You get much more detail.’

To keep people hooked, many estate agents will make their listing ‘unusually appealing’ and brighten the colour of their advertised pictures, to catch attention from viewers and prolong their focus.’

What does our Rightmove obsession mean for the property market?

While your Rightmove habit might seem harmless, it can actually have a real world impact.

Adam Day, head of estate agents eXp UK, tells Metro: ‘It drives up the stats for the likes of Rightmove, who can legitimately claim they see certain levels of traffic, even if only a proportion of this traffic is genuine, which then gives them the foundation required to drive up their fees for estate agents advertising homes on the site.’

He adds that this could slow down the market. ‘Many sellers will enter the market at an over-optimistic price point and, if they get a great deal of views during the initial weeks of listing, they may feel that they have a chance of selling.

‘However, after a number of weeks with little to no viewing requests, they are then forced to reduce their asking price. Had they not seen a strong level of “interest” from those simply browsing, they would have made their decision earlier, helping them to secure a buyer at an appropriate market value at a greater speed.’

Even if people are just browsing Rightmove for fun and not seriously looking to buy, estate agents still find it worthwhile to pay to advertise properties on the site. Adam explains that listing on their own website won’t ‘attract the same level of footfall’ as Rightmove does. 

The dominance Rightmove has in the property market has led to the site driving up its prices ‘considerably and consistently over the years’. Adam adds: ‘The platform has drawn a great deal of criticism from estate agents who feel they have seen coats soar.

‘Unfortunately for agents, they have little option but to stomach these costs due to the power that Rightmove holds within the market, as failing to do so could not only reduce their performance but also deter customers from engaging with them.’

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