Rightmove to buy HomeViews for £8m in cash

Property portal Rightmove said on Thursday that it has agreed to buy HomeViews for £8m in cash.

HomeViews is the UK's biggest community of verified resident reviews of property developments, with a particular focus on the build to rent sector.

"It helps prospective residents make more informed decisions about where to live, as well as providing rental operators and developers with a powerful research and marketing tool to help them better understand their residents' experiences," Rightmove said.

The company's data platform, HomeViews Pro, is also used by the build to rent industry to better understand resident experiences and trends across the sector.

Chief executive Johan Svanstrom said: "The HomeViews team has built an impressive platform that gives consumers additional useful information to make decisions. It also provides valuable feedback for industry operators, especially in the build to rent sector, which is an exciting and fast-growing segment of the UK property market.

"This acquisition provides Rightmove with yet another opportunity to further enrich our market-leading property information set for UK consumers and to create new and effective relationship tools for our build to rent operator partners. We're very excited to have Rory and the entire HomeViews team onboard."