Rightmove has announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2024, showing the company has navigated the evolving UK property market and kept its top spot as the UK’s largest property portal.
The company reported a 7% increase in revenue to £389.9 million, up from £364.3 million in 2023. While operating profit decreased slightly by 1% to £256.3 million, underlying operating profit rose by 4% to £273.9 million, maintaining a robust 70% underlying operating margin.
Financial performance was a key driver in a steady increase in the dividend.
Rightmove has recommended a final dividend of 6.1p per ordinary share, up 7% from the previous year’s 5.7p. This brings the total dividend for 2024 to 9.8p, representing a 5% increase from 2023. The company returned £181.7 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks during the year.
“These are solid results from Rightmove, underlining the resilience of its business model. Despite the uncertain housing market, 2024 results were in line with expectations and the outlook is confident, with growth set to strengthen in 2025,” said Charlie Huggins, Fund Manager at Wealth Club.
“The rebuffed takeover approach from REA as well as CoStar’s acquisition of OnTheMarket means the pressure is on Rightmove to deliver. It needs to step up innovation, rather than relying on big price increases for growth.”
The portal continues to dominate consumer engagement in the UK property sector, with users spending over 16.4 billion minutes on the platform during 2024, a 6% increase from the previous year’s 15.4 billion minutes. Rightmove maintained its position as the fourth-busiest UK-based digital platform, behind only the BBC, digital publisher Reach, and the government website Gov.uk.
According to the company, more than 80% of all time spent on UK property portals occurred on Rightmove, with over 80% of its traffic coming from direct and organic sources. The company has also increased its social media presence, with engagement across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok rising by 39% year-on-year.
Technology innovation and AI usage accelerated in 2024, with over 5,000 releases by 24 AI-enabled product teams, up from 3,700 releases by 16 product teams in 2023. The company increased its headcount by 14% to just under 900 employees, with 60% of new recruits filling technology roles.
In terms of the outlook, Rightmove expects revenue growth of 8-10% for 2025, building on its 2024 progress and benefiting from the full-year impact of Optimiser Edge uptake, further product-led growth across its core business, and continued progress within its Strategic Growth Areas. The company anticipates around 1% growth in membership and average revenue per advertiser (ARPA) growth of £95-£105 across estate agency and new homes developers.
The company expects to maintain its underlying operating margin of 70% as it continues to invest in innovation and accelerating its growth areas. Rightmove’s management expressed confidence in the company’s outlook for 2025 and beyond, citing the strength of its business model, clear strategy, and focus on innovation.
Solid results from Rightmove, but nothing to be overly excited about.