Nearly half of UK homebuyers are still hitting the streets in search of their next property, highlighting the limits of online portals and the opportunities for agents to capture off-screen demand.
Research from The Property DriveBuy, based on a survey of 1,133 recent buyers, shows that while 97% turned to online platforms during their search, reliance on portals is far from absolute.
Rightmove (42%) and Zoopla (19%) dominate buyer attention, with more than half of users checking multiple times a day.
But filters based on price, size, and rigid geography are leaving many dream homes unseen.
DYNAMIC SEARCH EXPERIENCE
As a result, 75% of buyers said they physically explored the neighbourhoods they hoped to buy in. For more than a third (34%), this approach uncovered suitable properties that never appeared in their portal searches.
Two-thirds (67%) discovered new areas altogether, broadening their options and often leading to purchases outside their original search boundaries.
Strikingly, almost one in four buyers (23%) ultimately bought a property that had never shown up in their portal results.
Looking forward, 65% said they want real-time property alerts while walking or driving through neighbourhoods, suggesting clear appetite for a more dynamic search experience.
INTUITIVE PROCESS
Steve Foreman, Founder and Chief Executive of The Property DriveBuy, reckons current portals are “too restrictive” and fail to reflect how people actually search.
He says: “Our technology sends live notifications as buyers explore neighbourhoods, surfacing homes they might otherwise miss. It’s a smarter, more intuitive process – one that reintroduces a bit of serendipity into house-hunting.”
For agents, the app offers a free window to list stock before national marketing campaigns drive wider consumer adoption, potentially opening a fresh lead channel in a marketplace where portals remain powerful but imperfect.
Property DriveBuy is currently free for estate agents to list their for sale inventory for an initial period until the app begins to generate quality leads via planned national marketing campaigns.
