Rightmove (LON:RMV) reported what management described as “strong continued delivery” for 2025, supported by higher average revenue per advertiser (ARPA), modest membership growth in its core estate agency and new homes businesses, and a faster-growing contribution from strategic growth areas. Presenting the results, CEO Johan Svanstrom said the company plans to “step up the pace further in 2026,” pointing to increased product delivery, a growing pipeline of AI initiatives, and ongoing investment in technology and people.
2025 highlights: revenue, profit, engagement and capital returns
Rightmove said 2025 revenue increased 9% year-on-year, while underlying operating profit also grew 9% as the company continued to invest in people, technology and product development. Underlying earnings per share rose 11%, and capital returns increased 21%.
Business performance: core segments and strategic growth areas
CFO Rory Hook broke down the revenue performance by segment:
- Agency revenue rose 9% to £305 million, driven primarily by ARPA increases, with an additional £6 million contribution from higher membership.
- New homes revenue increased 9% to £75 million despite what management described as continued headwinds in the end market. Membership in new homes grew 1%, contributing less than £1 million, while ARPA increases contributed £5 million.
- Strategic growth areas revenue climbed 25% to £29.1 million. Commercial revenue increased 13% to £15.3 million with membership up 29%, mortgages revenue rose nearly 50% to £6.8 million, and rental services revenue grew 35%, driven by growth in the Lead to Keys product.
Revenue outside the core represented 11% of group revenue, up from 10% the prior year, Hook said.
Across agency and new homes, total membership increased by 225 to 19,272, with agency membership up 261 (2%) and new homes developments down 36 (1%). Hook said traditional new homes developments fell to their lowest level since January 2018, and the company does not expect that to change in the first half of 2026.
ARPA, product uptake, and partner sentiment
Rightmove reported ARPA increased by £97 to £1,621 in 2025. Hook said 60% of ARPA growth was product-led, with the remaining 40% coming from contract renewals, and the company expects a similar split in 2026.
Management highlighted uptake of top-tier packages and incremental product purchases. Hook said Rightmove does not rely on a single source of customers joining top packages, and that ARPA tends to continue rising beyond the initial upgrade as partners add products over time.
The company also pointed to strong partner metrics, including agency retention at 90% and the “second highest in over 10 years.” Svanstrom cited third-party surveys of more than 1,600 independent agents per quarter that showed record-high positive sentiment by the end of 2025 and a “1.7 times differential” versus main portal competitors. He linked part of that to the Building Success Together program launched in early 2024, including account management and partner tools such as Rightmove Plus, which he said recorded 28 million sessions during the year.
Market backdrop: sales, new homes, rentals, and mortgages
Svanstrom described 2025 as “a year of two halves” in U.K. sales: a stronger first half supported by Bank of England rate cuts, followed by a weaker second half amid “fears around the late autumn budget.” For the full year, he said completions were 10% higher than 2024 and in line with long-term averages.
Looking ahead, management said available resale stock has bounced back to a 10-year high, contributing to slower price growth. Elevated resale stock was described as less supportive for new homes developers, and planning applications were said to be at an all-time low. In rentals, the company said increased supply and reduced demand have eased the imbalance, though the average of 10 enquirers per available property remains above the pre-COVID level of 6–7.
On mortgage rates, Svanstrom said the average five-year fixed rate was 4.35% as of January 31, 55 basis points lower than a year earlier, based on the Rightmove daily mortgage tracker.
AI and product roadmap: conversational search and operational plans
Rightmove emphasized AI as a key part of its strategy. Svanstrom said the company made more than 6,000 tech releases in 2025 and finished the year with 31 live strategic AI projects. He also said Rightmove tripled the number of data models used to process proprietary data and estimated more than 90% of its data is proprietary.
Among newer consumer-facing features, management discussed a limited rollout of conversational search built with Google Cloud and Gemini models. Svanstrom said early data from “thousands of conversations” showed users engaging with the broader site experience, and noted that users who engaged with conversational search were “almost 3 times more likely to send a lead versus the control group,” while cautioning it was too early to determine causality.
On the partner side, management highlighted Online Agent Valuation (OAV), described as exclusive to Optimiser Edge partners, with an average price of £170. Svanstrom said that for agents using an AI tool to support responses in OAV, response times were 16% faster on average and that cohort booked 20% more visits, based on early data.
In Q&A, Hook said 2026 ARPA guidance of £110–£120 is blended, with estate agency “towards the bottom end” and new homes “well above the blended rate.” He added that both segments are expected to have higher ARPA growth in 2026 than in 2025.
Hook also clarified that certain agency revenues are not included in ARPA, citing Agent Accelerator (treated as a program rather than a package) and insurance revenue in rental services. He said these together were around £3 million in 2025.
Rightmove reiterated guidance first provided in November. The company expects 2026 revenue growth of 8% to 10%, with first-half growth lower than the full year and a higher growth percentage in the second half. Hook said underlying operating profit is expected to grow 3% to 5%, with an underlying operating margin “no lower than 67%,” reflecting planned investment, including more than 100 hires across data, product and engineering and additional work in AI-powered operations.
On capital returns, Rightmove said it returned £220 million to shareholders in 2025 through £141 million of share buybacks and £79 million of dividends. The company announced a final dividend of 6.59p, taking the total dividend to 10.64p, and said it will run a £90 million share buyback program through July 31. Hook said the company plans to reduce cash reserves from £43 million in December to around £20 million by mid-year, which it views as sufficient for working capital.
Management also discussed its mortgage strategy, saying it will introduce a new partnership with NatWest in April across sites and apps and continue building broker opportunities. Svanstrom characterized mortgages as about 2% of revenue today and described the effort as a longer-term build with ongoing testing and learning.
About Rightmove (LON:RMV)
Rightmove plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates online digital property advertising and information portals in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company operates through Agency, New Homes, and Other segments. The Agency segment provides property resale and letting advertising services on its platforms. The segment also offers tenant references and rent guarantee insurance services to landlords. The New Homes segment provides property advertising services to new home developers and housing associations on its platforms.
