When it comes to researching property, there’s not just one website to give you everything you need to know, there’s LOADS! It can be a real minefield working out which site is best for what you need, whether that be searching for a rental property, a property with a sea view or just looking for property sold prices. To make this easier for you we have compiled a list of not just the top 10, but the top 15 best property websites in the UK! We’ve found out about each site, so we’re able to not only give you the pros and cons of each site but also what they can be best used for.
We’ve also got answers to your common questions surrounding property sourcing websites and the property market.
If you’re looking to find out about one property sourcing website in particular, use this menu to get around. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, then great! Get your reading glasses on and get stuck in…
- Best property websites UK:
- Does no longer on the market mean sold?
- Do all houses go on Rightmove?
- How do you find properties before they hit the market?
- How do you find out how long a property has been on the market in the UK?
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Best property websites UK:
This list of the best property websites will help you to decide which website is best for what you need.
Rightmove
Rightmove is the UK’s biggest property website, with over 800,000 properties for sale at any given point. Rightmove doesn’t only show properties for sale but also rental properties too, making it a useful property sourcing website. It also has a list of sold prices for the area you’re looking in and a ‘Rightmove blog’ where there’s information on property news and real moving stories. Rightmove is often a site which comes to mind when trying to decide what is the best property website.
Pros:
Rightmove is quick and easy to use and has a variety of search tools to use when looking for your perfect property. For example, you can put in a pricing range whilst searching, making it more customisable to you.
Cons:
With the popularity of Rightmove comes disadvantages. If you’re a seller, there are so many other properties on Rightmove, meaning there’s a lot of competition. The large number of properties may also be overwhelming if you’re searching for a property and you therefore may find it difficult to find exactly what you’re looking for. Also, listing on Rightmove isn’t free, with it costing about £50-60 a month, although this is included in the estate agent fees. Rightmove also only allows listings from agents, meaning it excludes properties being sold privately.
Best use of Rightmove: Searching for property
OnTheMarket
OnTheMarket provides a search engine, broken down into four parts, to find thousands of properties for sale and rent. The four different sections of the search engine allow the addition of filters to give a more accurate search to find the perfect property for you. The property sourcing website has a blog containing up to date property news and advice on a wide range of topics.
Pros:
Due to the many filters and different parts of the search engine, searching for property is less time consuming as you’re able to weed out the properties not suited to you.
Cons:
Although the search engine is broken down and allows you to add filters, there are a lack of tools compared to other house buying websites, making the search less advanced in comparison.
Best use of OnTheMarket: Searching for property
Zoopla
Zoopla is one of the most extensive property sourcing websites to help users find the perfect property to buy or rent. Zoopla has many features needed by both buyers and sellers.
For a buyer, you are able to use ‘SmartMaps’ where you can draw your boundaries for the area you would like to buy/rent in. You’re also able to use the travel time search, which finds properties for you within the distance you’d like to travel.
As a seller, you’re able to use the valuation tool to quickly determine how much your house is worth. Zoopla also has readily available estimates on what a property is worth, based on sold prices and features of the property.
Pros:
Zoopla is an easy to use property sourcing website and has local information available for each area you’re searching in. Zoopla also has a ‘find estate agent’ tool, allowing easy location of estate and letting agents popular in your area.
Cons:
Some of the information on Zoopla is out of date. For example, the ‘Zoopla valuation estimate’ only looks at the last sold price and sold prices in the area, meaning it doesn’t take into account current condition of a property or possible extensions, meaning the valuation is inaccurate.
Best use of Zoopla: Getting information on property
Prime Location
Prime Location is a house buying website that details all properties for sale or to rent at a reduced price. The properties available are more luxurious properties, aimed at the middle to upper tiers of house buyers.
Prime Location also has property listings for overseas property, in more than 60 countries, making it a great property sourcing website if you’re looking for a property abroad.
Pros:
Prime Location has advanced search options, allowing you to narrow down your search. For example, you can look solely for shared ownership properties or auction properties.
Cons:
As we said, the properties are aimed more towards the middle to upper tiers of house buyers, meaning the site isn’t as inclusive to all. The listings are also harder to read than other property sourcing websites.
Best use of Prime Location: Finding more luxury properties in specific locations
Mitula
Mitula not only allows you to search for property, but also allows you to search through cars, fashion and employment. Mitula is also currently available in 49 different countries and still looking to expand further.
Mitula displays ads from different sites and allows you to click through to these sites to get further information. It doesn’t only display properties to buy or rent, but also holiday rentals.
Pros:
Mitula is cheap to use and allows you to search the global market. It also allows the user to search through property, fashion, cars and employment all in one place, making searching easy.
Cons:
The display of the search results aren’t that easy to read and when you find something that interests you, once you click on it, this will take you through to another site, where the ad is originally published. Also, due to Mitula also containing searches for fashion, employment and cars, there’s less focus on property, meaning there will be less properties on Mitula and therefore it’s not the best website to use if you’re looking for solely property sourcing websites.
Best use of Mitula: Multi-purpose searching
Home
Home says to be one of the most comprehensive property sourcing websites with links to 447,168 properties for sale, 201,660 properties for rent, 16,564 estate agents and 16,226 letting agents, at the time of writing, across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The websites search engine allows you to draw on a map the desired area you’re wanting to look in. Home also allows you to put filters onto your search, including housing that have had price changes within a certain number of days.
Home also has a property news blog and an asking price index. You’re also able to create a profile to save results, making it easier for you to return to your searches, a feature not all house buying websites have.
Pros:
Home’s search engine is broken into four sections to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. Also, there’s an up to date property news page allowing users to find out recent news.
Cons:
The website has a dated look, making it less attractive than other sites. The dated nature of the website makes it slightly harder to use compared to other property sourcing websites.
Best use of Home: Property searching
Trovit
Trovit displays ads for cars, employment and products, as well as property, meaning it’s not your typical house buying website. It covers various countries across the world and receives more than 90 million visitors a month. Trovit provides users with filters, allowing them to refine their results. Under searching for property, Trovit offers a wide selection of property types from a Maisonette to a Cottage or a Caravan.
Users are also able to set up personalised alerts so they can be notified about new listings which will be of interest to them.
Trovit also has a property news page called ‘Home Hunters by Trovit’ helping to guide readers through the important process that is buying a house.
Pros:
Due to Trovit’s global reach, it attracts a large number of visitors per month meaning, if your house is advertised on Trovit, there’s a lot of people viewing your house and therefore an increased chance of selling.
Cons:
Once again, because Trovit also provides ads for employment, cars and products alongside property, there’s less focus on property. This means it’s hard to say how many of the monthly visitors come onto the site looking for property. Also, as Trovit displays ads from other sites, it has no further information on the ads than what is displayed, and one must get in contact with the original source of the ad for more details.
Best use of Trovit: Multi-purpose searching
Nestoria
Nestoria is a search engine allowing you to look through listings from other property portals all in one place. It allows you to search for properties for sale or rent in a specific location and you can apply filters to sort the properties by relevance, freshness and type of property.
If you see something you’re interested in, once you click on it, Nestoria will take you to the site the listing is from so you can get further information. This is different to property sourcing websites, like Rightmove and Zoopla, where the listings and information is all within their site.
Pros:
Nestoria displays the market value alongside the asking price, allowing the customer to see if they’re overpaying for a property. There’s also loads of features provided allowing you to customise your search and filter out properties not relevant to you.
Cons:
As all the listings are taken from other property portals, you’re taken to the original site of the listing if you want to get more information on a property. There’s also a large number of properties on the site so, as a buyer, may be time consuming to find what you’re looking for. Or as a seller, may be hard for your property to get noticed as there’s a large number of other properties, so lots of competition.
Best use of Nestoria: Finding a property in a specific location
HomesGoFast
HomesGoFast was originally created to only advertise properties in the UK and Carrribean, but experienced rapid growth and now covers over 50 countries worldwide. The property sourcing website works with not only agents, but also homeowners and property developers.
HomesGoFast allows the user to search properties for sale and rent, alongside holiday villas, investment apartments and commercial property.
Pros:
When searching a particular area, HomesGoFast provides you with facts about this area, a feature that not many property sourcing websites have. It’s also cheap to use, costing both agents and owners just £9.99 a month. Included in this payment is the option to allow HomesGoFast to create articles about your property for them to then advertise on social media, increasing the audience who will see your property. This is a feature that differentiates HomesGoFast to the other property sourcing websites.
Cons:
HomesGoFast focuses more on abroad property than UK property, so much so that the website doesn’t have any, or very few, properties for some areas of the UK. For example, if Leeds is your desired area, you will not find any properties advertised on HomesGoFast.
Best use of HomesGoFast: Finding property abroad
Nethouseprices
Nethouseprices has records of sold house prices going back to 1995 and it’s constantly being updated, meaning the information you find on here is fresh and relevant. There’s also a free valuation tool, allowing you to find a rough valuation of your house, similar to what you’ll find on other property sourcing websites.
Nethouseprices also allows you to search through houses for sale and rent across England and Wales.
Pros:
Nethouseprices is free and easy to use, with property news and advice pages offering extra help and information for users. If you’re thinking of selling (or just want to be a bit nosey), the valuation tool allows you to get an instant up to date valuation for your house for free.
Cons:
The focus is more on sold house prices and so therefore not all properties currently for sale are on this website.
Best use of Nethouseprices: Finding sold prices
Placebuzz
Placebuzz is an easy-to-use property search portal that connects users to thousands of homes that are available to Rent and Buy in the UK. The platform enables users to filter through properties suited to their criteria with a quick and effective search engine. With the addition of constructive features, such as area guides, users are able to rate and discover specific locations across the nation before committing to a new home.
Pros:
Users will feel supported in their house hunting journey as they have the ability to save, share and, create alerts for any of their favourite properties and locations, whilst also having access to beneficial property articles in the Blog. Furthermore, users can find homeware ideas, home styling videos and personal moving stories which are all useful to those wanting to learn more about property.
Cons:
Although filters are available in the search bar, they are very limited and have few specification options compared to bigger companies. Placebuzz also currently only accepts agent listings with no private landlords on the site.
Best use of Placebuzz: Searching for properties to rent and buy across the UK
UK Land Directory
UK Land Directory is one of the best property websites for anyone looking to buy land to build a house or commercial property. The website is easy to use, with filters available to search through the database.
Currently at the time of writing, UK Land Directory has 527 plots available across 43 different counties within the UK. If you’re unable to find a plot you want from what is currently available, you can opt-in to receive email updates when a listing is added which matches your criteria. The website also has a land sale news page, allowing users to top up on their knowledge.
Pros:
UK Land Directory has all current land for sale and previously sold land available on the website. If you’re selling your land, you’re able to advertise on the website for free. The option to opt-in to email updates also means the website will constantly search and update you with land that matches your criteria, without you having to spend your time looking.
Cons:
UK Land Directory only shows land for sale and so has no housing. The land sale news page hasn’t been updated since 2010, therefore the information is outdated.
Best use of UK Land Directory: Buying and selling land
Waterside Properties
Waterside Properties exclusively shows properties for sale or rent with a water view. This could be a house with a sea view or next to a marina or river. The website doesn’t only have properties, but also boats and moorings for sale or rent.
Waterside Properties has many filters including property type, location and price making it easier for you to find your perfect property, on or next to water.
Waterside Properties is one of the only websites with exclusively water properties, making it one of the best property websites if you’re wanting this type of property.
Pros:
Waterside Properties is a unique and specialised website containing all properties on or next to water, for sale or rent. It also has details of marinas which are available for rental.
Cons:
Due to the nature of the website, Waterside Properties is more niche and so won’t be much use if you’re looking for a standard property. It also focuses more on abroad properties.
Best use of Waterside Properties: Finding properties on or next to water
Rentify
Rentify, as the name suggests, is aimed at those who are renting, benefitting both tenants and landlords. For tenants, once you choose to become a Rentify member, you are able to boost your credit rating with each rent payment. You’re also able to combine all your household bills into one simple payment system. For a landlord, the benefits are that Rentify are taking on a lot of the costs a landlord would typically pay. For example, Rentify will pay the maintenance and insurance costs and also deal with any property issues.
Another benefit of Rentify to a landlord is if the property is empty or the tenant fails to pay, Rentify will pay the landlord the rent. Yes – this means as a landlord signing up to Rentify you are guaranteed each month’s rent AND the maintenance and insurance costs are covered.
Rentify isn’t a property sourcing website and doesn’t display houses available to rent on their website, as it’s more aimed at making the renting process easier.
Pros:
Rentify is able to automate the letting process, allowing landlords to not worry about arrears or maintenance and guarantees a scheduled payment system. For tenants, Rentify allows them the benefits of boosting credit score with each monthly payment and one outgoing per month for all the bills.
Cons:
Rentify doesn’t have the properties available for rent on their site and takes you to Rightmove when searching for properties. The properties it has available are currently only across London and so hasn’t branched out into other areas yet. The website is also mainly aimed at landlords and investors, as the benefits are greater to them, as shown through renew rate of landlords in 2019 being at 96.1%, according to the Rentify website. Rentify is also not a free website for rental properties, as membership for this site cost about £200 per person to tenants.
Best use of Rentify: Helping tenants and landlords to make renting easier
Property News
Property News allows you to search through properties for sale and rent in Northern Ireland. The property sourcing website has filters allowing you to customise your search to be better suited to you.
Property News also has an up to date property blog and advice pages, allowing users to get more information.
Pros:
Property News contains all properties for sale and rent within Northern Ireland, including commercial property. It also has a function allowing you to draw on the map your desired area.
Cons:
Property News exclusively shows properties for Northern Ireland. Also, it doesn’t accept listings direct from a seller and so only displays those that have come through an agent.
Best use of Property News: Searching for properties to buy and rent in Northern Ireland
Does no longer on the market mean sold?
The answer to this could be both yes and no. Generally speaking, when a house is removed from the market it’s normally because it has been sold and the sale has gone through. A property may go Sold Subject to Contract but the sale not go through, meaning the house will generally stay on the market.
However, some houses are removed from the market without being sold. There are a few reasons behind this, the main one being because the vendor has decided they don’t want to move, or at least don’t want to move just yet. Some take their house off the open market but are still willing to sell privately.
If you’ve seen a house you really wanted but can no longer find it on the market and don’t remember seeing it sell, it’s worth asking the estate agent who was advertising it what the situation is with the house. It’s often the vendor is still willing to sell.
Do all houses go on Rightmove?
Although Rightmove is a great property sourcing website it only displays houses that have been put on by estate agents. This means that not all properties that are currently for sale will be on Rightmove, as it excludes all the properties which are being sold privately. The house shop allows individuals to advertise their house for free without using an estate agent and so will likely have properties that Rightmove doesn’t have.
How do you find properties before they hit the market?
A good way to find properties before they hit the market is to approach a few estate agents and tell them the sort of property you’re looking for. This way they can keep your details and when they get a property which matches your description, they will be able to send it to you, before it hits the open market.
How do you find out how long a property has been on the market UK?
The quickest and easiest way to find out how long a property has been on the market is to look on property sourcing websites, like Rightmove, and these will often say the date it was put on the site. However, if, for example, there’s been a price reduction, Rightmove will replace the date it went on the market with the date the price was reduced. In this case, it’s best to go straight to the estate agency who’s advertising the house and ask them directly how long it has been on the market.
Whether you’re looking for property sourcing websites, a website with all sold prices or a free website for rental property, there’s something for everything on our list. Got a website to add or want to tell us about your experience with house buying websites? That’s fab – don’t hesitate to get in touch with us!
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Millie is a perfectionist with a passion for property and writing articles. You’ll find her researching the latest housing trends and the newest up and coming areas worth investing in. Read more about Millie here.
Be the first to comment