Property portal giant Rightmove has announced a significant windfall for investors, revealing plans to return approximately £400 million to shareholders by July 2027. The news came as part of a robust trading update this morning, in which the company maintained its growth trajectory despite a challenging backdrop in the UK housing market.
The commitment to shareholders is already underway, with roughly £125 million returned since July 2026 via dividends and share buybacks. The company further signaled its confidence by pledging an additional £80 million in share buybacks to be completed before the end of the current year.
This financial optimism arrives even as Rightmove acknowledges the “challenging and uncertain” macro-economic environment. The company noted that recent Bank of England base rate hikes have contributed to a cooling effect on the market, citing a 10% decline in buyer demand and a 9% drop in sales agreed. With five-year fixed mortgage rates hovering around 5.5%, consumer affordability remains a primary hurdle for the residential sector.
Despite these headwinds, Rightmove has defied market pressures, upgrading its forecast for underlying earnings per share from at least 5% to at least 7% for the current year. The firm expects to see continued revenue and profit growth, bolstered by what it describes as its “fastest-ever pace of product innovation.”
A core pillar of this growth strategy is the aggressive integration of Artificial Intelligence. Rightmove’s “Ask Rightmove” suite—which includes conversational sub-agents for search and evaluation—has seen remarkable traction. The company reports that consumers interacting with these AI tools spend twice as much time on the site and send three times as many leads compared to those who do not.
For its estate agent partners, the company has rolled out AI-powered call transcription and intelligence tools, which have already processed over two million live conversations. This technological push is paying dividends in partner retention, which stood at 92% as of late October—the second-highest rate recorded in a decade.
Looking ahead to 2027, Rightmove anticipates revenue growth to remain in line with current trends as it navigates a subdued market for new home developments and general resale properties. However, management remains confident in its ability to drive profitability through rigorous cost discipline and productivity gains. The company is projecting an increase in underlying operating profit growth of 4% to 7% for 2027, with earnings per share growth expected to hit at least 10%.
While the broader UK property market grapples with high interest rates and falling volumes, Rightmove’s update paints a picture of a company insulated by its dominant digital market share—which accounts for 90% of consumer time spent on property portals—and an ongoing shift toward high-efficiency, AI-driven operations.
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