Google enters the UK property market
Search engine giant Google has today confirmed that residential property listings will be added to its Google maps service. The company claims that "hundreds of thousands" of homes are already being advertised for sale or rent on the Google maps service which is proving to be one of the more popular initiatives of late.
In a rather clever way, which does not alienate any area of the market, Google is allowing both estate agents and private sellers to gain access to Google maps at a price. All of the major property players appear to be in favour of the move and property experts Spicer Haart and Countrywide have been brought into the fold as expert advisers.
For many years there has been speculation that Google was looking to enter the UK property market although in such a way as to not alienate those already advertising with Google. By effectively partnering with some of the UK's most prominent property sellers and rental agents, as well as offering the same service to the public, this will bring on board a number of very powerful and very prominent property experts. It will be interesting to see how this strategy develops in the future and what kind of income it attracts for the company.
Share this..
Related stories
Reality in the UK housing market
Over the last few days we have seen some significant headlines from the UK property market with many analysts starting to turn more positive and liquidity returning to the sector. However, it is worth reminding ourselves that due to the substantial fall in UK house prices there are now more than 900,000 people in the UK caught in the negative equity trap. While the severity of their negative equit...
Read MoreHouse prices continue to rise
The cost of buying a house in the UK is continuing it’s steady rise, at the fastest rate since 2010. Nationwide building society reported that house prices rose by 0.3pc in the month of June, and is rising at an annual rate of 1.9pc on average. Again the Funding for Lending scheme launched by the Government last year has been accredited with helping the market pick up. The scheme makes c...
Read MoreHigh housing demands continue to inflate prices
February's house prices have risen again by 0.7 per cent. The highest monthly increase since May 2004 highlights the discrepancy between property supply and demand, according to a survey by Hometrack.This latest rise, which affected 42 per cent of UK regions, brings annual price inflation on properties up to 6.4 per cent.The 14 per cent increase in properties on agents' books is not enough to sust...
Read MoreUK rent rates stabilise in May
After nine consecutive months of decline it has been revealed that rental rates across the UK have now stabilised with May's figure showing an average of £819 a month. Even though this is still some 5.5% lower than the same time last year it does bring to an end an unprecedented fall in rental income for many landlords and "accidental landlords". So what next for the UK property market?
RICS house price index under pressure
The prominent Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) house price index fell to -36 in the three months to September from -32 in the three months to August. This fall in the index reflects the fall in house prices in England and Wales and is the largest one-month fall since May 2009. While the drop is effectively blamed upon sellers rushing to the market to sell before further perceived weak...
Read More