Top 50 Property Websites

This page provides you with links to other websites that you may find useful if you are in the process of buying and selling a property. We have spilt the websites into sections to ease navigation. Please let us know if you know of any sites that might be included on this list.

Property Hubs

Rightmove- www.rightmove.co.uk - The Daddy of all property sites, with most UK estate agents listing their property on here. You can search through millions of properties to find property to buy, sell and rent. New to the site is "Rightmove Students", a student section to the main site.

Prime Location - www.primelocation.com - This leading property portal attracts more than 1.7 million unique visitors a month, as well as having over 850,000 properties in the middle and upper markets of the property industry. Owned by the Daily Mail.

Zoopla - www.zoopla.co.uk - Launched in 2008, Zoopla is one of the UK's fastest growing property websites, with over 3.3 million unique visitors a month and growing. By combining free, instant value estimates for every UK home with sold prices, local market information and hundreds of thousands of properties available for sale and to rent, Zoopla has Rightmove in its sights as the UK's top property site.

Find a Property - www.findaproperty.com - This portal has 850,000 properties in its database and receives over 3.6 million unique users a month. Find a Property finds its niche in providing local info such as council tax rates, school tables, crime rates, comments from people living in each area and in-depth guidebooks and photo albums to give a general feel for an area.

Globrix - www.globrix.com - Login here to get updates on your saved searches, such as when properties or rents fall in price. Also interesting on the Globrix site is the blog, which contains some interesting and witty posts on the property market.

Fish4Homes - www.fish4.co.uk/homes/ - Fish4Homes is a property portal in the Rightmove mould, with the usual ability to search for houses and flats for sale and rent. Fish4Homes has 225,000 properties on its database - considerably less than its rivals. It does attempt to make up for this shortfall with links to Halifax mortgages and easyroommate.com.

BBC Property - www.bbc.co.uk/homes/property/ - Includes sections on improving your home, advice when moving home plus a mortgage calculator. Also explains much of the mortgage jargon. A typically good site from the BBC.

Property News

Telegraph Property - www.telegraph.co.uk/property/ - All the latest property news plus features such as: "Reducing Water Use in Your Home", "Best Holiday Homes in Europe" and "How To Find The Right Estate Agent". The Telegraph includes sections on Homebuilding and Renovating, Period Property, High end Homes and Retirement.

Property Week - www.propertyweek.com - Property Week is the leading news magazine in the commercial property market. With news, features and analysis, Property Week keeps readers briefed on all the latest information from the industry - from development opportunities to investment prospects, professional and legal coverage to regional surveys, plus all the latest job vacancies.

Property Wire - www.propertywire.com/news/ - Operating out of the UK, the website offers residential and commercial property news for worldwide markets including, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Australia and the USA. By investing heavily in technology, marketing and personnel, PropertyWire.com aims to be the largest and most visited news real estate portal in the world.

Guardian Property - www.guardian.co.uk/money/property - The property section of one of the leading online news sites in the UK. Contains property news, plus sections on house prices, mortgages, first time buyers, but-to-let plus "ask the expert". Also includes blogs and comment.

Mail Property - www.dailymail.co.uk/property/index.html - Obviously contains a widget from Primelocation.com (The Mail owns primelocation.com). Also includes a section on interiors, plus price comparison for mortgages, home insurance and loans, alongside comprehensive residential property news.

The Independent Property - www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/ - Contains the usual news, plus sections including Tradesman search, Broadband, TV and Phone comparison, plus a furniture store search.

Estate Agents

National Association of Estate Agents - www.naea.co.uk - The NAEA is the UK's leading professional body for estate agents. Their main functions include regulating, guiding and assisting property professionals across a wide range of disciplines. They also work to make the housing market safer and easier to use and understand when people are buying or selling a home.

Haart Estate Agents - www.haart.co.uk/ - Part of the Spicerhaart Group, Haart have been awarded best estate agent for a number of regions in the UK by the Daily Mail. The site offers lots of extra content for house buyers/sellers, such as advice on conveyancing, tenant's rights and surveys.

Savills Estate Agents - www.savills.co.uk/ - Established in 1855, and with over 200 offices around the world, Savills is a leading global property agent. They have offices throughout the Americas, the UK, continental Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Savills was ranked as the property industry's number one employer by the Times in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Connells Estate Agents - www.connels.co.uk - Connells are one of the leading national chain of estate agents, with over 150 offices in the UK. Last year, Connells sold in excess of £2.3 billion worth of property and arranged mortgage loans totalling around £500 million, helping thousands of Connells customers buy a home of their own.

Foxtons Estate Agents - www.foxtons.co.uk/ - Foxton's is one of the leading estate agents in London, with 31 offices in the capital. Their USP is their coffee shop style offices.

Consumer, Government and Legal

Which - www.which.co.uk/ - "Which" is the main government consumer site, with a very useful mortgage/property section. The property section contains a mortgage calculator, enabling users to find out how much they can borrow. Also featured is a mortgage comparison tool, which has access to thousands of mortgages from just about every provider. Also included is a set of guides to topics such as "How to Remortgage", "Mortgage Terms Glossary", "Dealing With Problem Estate Agents" and "Checking a Letting Agreement".

Office of Fair Trading - www.oft.gov.uk/ - Make your complaint here if you feel you have been treated unfairly by your mortgage company or estate agent.

The Property Ombudsman - www.tpos.co.uk/ - The Property Ombudsman provides a free, fair and independent service for dealing with unresolved disputes between sales and letting agents who have joined the TPO and consumers who are actual or potential buyers or sellers or landlords or tenants of residential property in the UK.

Money Advice Service - yourmoney.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/hubs/home_mortgages.html - Useful site that includes a helpline for home owners or renters to have their questions answered. Lays out all the options to do with mortgages e.g. type of mortgage, where to find the best rate, etc...

Law Society - www.lawsociety.org.uk/home.law - When you're moving house one key thing to get right along with getting a good estate agent is getting a good solicitor, to ensure the conveyancing process goes smoothly. Visit the Law Society to find a member firm that confirms to the Society's exacting demands. An alternative is to use an e-conveyancing site, where you submit your case and solicitors pitch a price for your business. You get to choose the one you want.

House Prices

Hometrack - www.hometrack.co.uk/ - House price track site based on estate agent data. Housetrack deliver automated valuations and risk analytics services to over 90% of UK Mortgage Lenders. They supply a range of innovative applications to organisations across the residential sector including Developers, Housing Associations, Corporate Investors, Estate Agents and Local & Central Government.

Nationwide House Prices - http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/default.asp - This is site includes house price news and a useful house price calculator.

Land Registry - www.landregistry.gov.uk/ - Gives house price data, but is based on completed house sales, so is lagging behind the other house price track sites. Anyone in the UK who buys or sells a house has to register it with the Land Registry.

Property Snake - www.propertysnake.co.uk/ - Property Snake is a resource for those people interested in big reductions that have been made in house prices, either by incentives by desperate developers or by price cuts by anxious private sellers. Updated daily, the site boasts 210,000 reduced prices, with discounts of up to 55%.

House Price Crash - www.housepricecrash.co.uk/ - Gives info on different countries' base rates, comprehensive graphs and tables of house price data, plus a useful resources page, with links to property sites (many that are not on this list!)

Net House Prices - www.nethouseprices.com/index.php - An easy to use site based on finding house prices for properties in your area. Data is taken from the Land Registry. Net House Prices is a bit more user friendly than the Land Registry.

Buying Abroad

Global Property Guide - www.globalpropertyguide.com/ - Global Property Guide began with Matthew Montagu-Pollock, the founder, receiving a bill for 10,000 Euros for coveyancing fees in Vienna, Austria, a foreign country to him. He thought, if only there was a site that gave info for people buying in countries different to their own. Global Property Guide was born, to answer such questions as: can foreigners buy property? Is property expensive or cheap? How heavy are taxes? To a large degree Global Property Guide answers these questions well, featuring comprehensive content.

Buy Association - www.buyassociation.co.uk/property/ - By visiting Buy Association, you will have free access to hundreds of up-to-date articles written by leading industry experts, consumer reviews, case studies, news and videos. The site will also bring you deals and discounts, with exclusive offers for BuyAssociation members.

World Properties - www.worldproperties.com/en/Properties.aspx - World Properties is the website of the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations, a body that sets standards for international real estate practice. In practice this means a comprehensive search function for finding international property. The site enables you to search by country.

Association of Relocation Professionals - www.arp-relocation.com/ - Used for people or companies that need someone else to find a home for them. Contains comprehensive lists of relocation companies in the UK.

Direct.gov - www.direct.gov.uk/en/BritonsLivingAbroad/index.htm - Some great content here on the typically useful Direct.gov site. Contains advice on moving abroad, in such areas as "Before You Go", "Money Abroad", "Education and Jobs Abroad" and "Health Abroad". Contains links to elsewhere on the Direct.gov site, such as pages for Passports, Tax and Emergencies.

Mortgages Overseas - www.mortgagesoverseas.com/ - Established in 1994, Conti has helped thousands of people to arrange their mortgages in over 45 countries. They also provide legal help, currency exchange and international tax services.

The International Law Partnership - www.ilplaw.com/ - The International Law Partnership Ltd gives you access to specialist lawyers, tax advisers and other professionals from around the world. Their service includes free property advice and a 24 hour emergency international law help service.

Association of International Property Professionals - www.aipp.org.uk/ - The Association of International Property Professionals is the industry body for the international property market. A not-for-profit organisation, the AIPP is attempting to improve the standards of professionalism in this market. In a largely unregulated industry, AIPP Members voluntarily agree to follow a professional Code of Conduct.

Property Blogs

The Rat and Mouse - www.theratandmouse.co.uk/weblog/index.php - Probably the most informed property enthusiasts blog, The Rat and Mouse blogs wittily on topics gleaned from the press and elsewhere on the web, as well as its own stories.

Zoopla blog - http://blog.zoopla.co.uk - Unusual for a corporate blog, the Zoopla blog features stories on interesting and useful topics such as "Who Ryan Gigs bough his house from..." and "Revealing the Apprentice House". The blog uses the data from its main site (see above) to good effect on this creative blog.

Property Owl - blog.propertyowl.co.uk/ - Property Owl is a popular blog based on the UK property market. They like to have guest blog posters blog on topics such as "Owning a Listed Building" and "The Benefits of Renting Office Space".

Landlord Law Blog - www.landlordlawblog.co.uk - This blog is run by solicitor Tessa Shepperson, who specialises in residential landlord and tenant law. Tessa blogs about topics in her niche, such as tenancy agreements, tenancy deposits, evictions, landlords' legal obligations and the like.

Agent's Diary - agentsdiary.blogspot.com - Agent's Diary offers a humorous and reasonably well updated take on the estate agent business. The writer is an anonymous blogger, writing about life in his estate agent office. Seems to have built up quite a good community.

Property Investment Project - www.propertyinvestmentproject.co.uk/blog/ - Another landlord based blog, this time with more colourful language included. Log on here to read rants about tenants drilling holes into walls and other issues...

Removals

Armishaws - www.armishaws.com - Armishaws are one of the leading removals companies in the UK. They move locally, nationally and around the world and have been operating for many years. They offer a free quote service; to access this, users simply fill out the short or long quote form, and wait for a quote from Armishaws.

Pickfords - www.pickfords.co.uk/ - Pickford's are arguably the leading removal company operating in the UK today. They offer a home insurance quote comparison service, as well as offering secure storage. Pickford's Removals was established in the 17th Century, so they have the heritage!

Removals Brokers - www.removalsbrokers.co.uk/ - Removals Brokers are a leading removals brokerage service. Users visit the site and enter their removal requirements, and Removals Brokers goes away and finds a range of quotes for the user to choose from. A very useful site where much money can be saved.

Britannia - www.britannia-movers.co.uk/ - Britannia are a leading removals firm in the UK, offering residential and office removals to customers in the UK. They also offer a storage service.

Pack n Move - www.packnmove.co.uk/ - Pack n Move offer removal boxes, bubble wrap and tape at good prices. Check out their second hand section - 20 second hand boxes for £15!

Help I am Moving - www.helpiammoving.com/ - Help I am Moving aims to be the all in one resource for people moving house. You can select from a choice of movers in your location here.

Bishops Move - www.bishopsmove.com/ - Another removals company to choose from. Phone around and see who gives the best price.