Lettings portal reports 22% rise in traffic

Scottish lettings portal Citylets has published strong results for 2011, with visitor traffic up 22% on 2010.

Inquiries to lettings agents also rose by 21%.

Thomas Ashdown, founder and managing director of Citylets, said: “We operated in broadly the same geographies as 2010 and are confident these results reflect not just a growth in the rental market, but a growth in our market share.

“Traffic to Citylets is now three times what it was four years ago.”

According to Experian Hitwise, Citylets averaged rank 74 in the property category (based on UK visits) in 2011, higher than any other dedicated residential letting site.

Its agency subscribers, currently only in Scotland and Northern Ireland, grew 12.5% from the previous year.

Ashdown said: “Interestingly, just over half of all Citylets’ Scottish clients are not subscribed to the UK’s market leader, Rightmove.

“Rightmove may be the UK’s biggest site, but in Scotland Citylets is the clear market leader for letting agents with 54% of clients not subscribed to Rightmove. In major cities like Edinburgh and Dundee, that increases to 85% and in Aberdeen it’s currently 65%.

“These figures suggest that in urban Scotland, Citylets attracts the larger audiences relevant to our local clients. Indeed, the figures seem to underline the fact that property markets are predominantly local and it is local presence that counts, not over-arching UK visitor numbers.”  

Citylets, which was set up in 1999, remains in independent ownership and is managed in Edinburgh by its founding team.