Why portals require an agent
Rightmove, OnTheMarket and Zoopla are not public listing sites. They are B2B businesses that sell subscription access to estate agencies and property professionals. Their business model depends on that relationship. A private individual cannot create an account and list their property — the portals have never offered this, and there is no indication they intend to.
This is a commercial arrangement, not a legal one. There is nothing in UK law that requires you to use Rightmove, OnTheMarket and Zoopla to sell your home. They are powerful tools — in 2025, 89% of all time spent on UK property portals was on Rightmove, with that share rising from 83% in 2024 — but they are not the only way buyers find properties, and they have never been.
The role portals actually play in a sale
It is worth being precise about what Rightmove and Zoopla do — and what they don't.
What matters more than portal choice is the quality of your listing, your photography, and your pricing strategy. Portals are the door. They are where buyers begin their search, filter by location and price, and click through to listings that catch their eye. They do not close the sale. They do not conduct the viewing. They do not negotiate the offer. They do not handle the conveyancing.
Everything that happens after a buyer clicks on a listing — the viewing, the conversation, the offer, the legal process — happens between seller and buyer. The portal's job ends the moment a buyer expresses interest.
What drives that click, and what drives an offer once a buyer has clicked, is down to four things: the right asking price, strong photographs, a compelling description, and upfront information that builds buyer confidence. All of those are things Propeo helps you get right — regardless of which door the buyer came through.
How buyers actually find properties in 2026
Rightmove dominates. That is a fact and it would be dishonest to suggest otherwise. But dominance is not monopoly, and the buyer journey in 2026 is more varied than portal traffic statistics suggest.
Buyers in 2026 find properties through:
Direct search and social sharing. A Propeo listing has a unique URL — for example, propeo.co/your-property. That URL can be shared directly on Facebook (where property groups in every UK town and city have tens of thousands of members), on local WhatsApp groups, on X, on Instagram. Buyers who are actively looking often monitor these channels alongside portal alerts.
QR codes on For Sale boards. Every Propeo listing includes a print-ready advertisng board with a QR code. A buyer who passes your property, scans the board, and lands on a well-presented listing page with full property information is a more engaged enquirer than one who clicked on a portal listing among fifty others.
Google and organic search. A Propeo property listing page is indexable. A buyer searching "3 bed semi [your area] for sale" may find your listing directly in search results — particularly if you have optimised the page with accurate location information. This is a genuinely underutilised buyer channel.
Word of mouth and local networks. Estate agents do not have a monopoly on local knowledge. Telling neighbours, posting in local groups, distributing flyers — these are effective and cost nothing beyond the time invested.
Portal Boost — what's coming
Propeo is actively developing a Portal Boost add-on that will enable listings to appear on major UK property portals through a registered partner arrangement.
We are not going to make promises about timeline, pricing, or specific portals until the arrangements are confirmed and the feature is ready to use. What we will say is that portal access is a priority, it is in active development, and it will be available as an optional add-on — not a requirement, and not bundled into the base price in a way that makes Propeo more expensive for sellers who don't need it.
When Portal Boost is live, we will tell you exactly what it costs, exactly which portals it covers, and exactly what you are getting. No small print. Sign up to the email newsletter to receive notifications on this topic.
