The property press has been full of news recently about the planned launch of the new property portal, OnTheMarket.

This new, not-for-profit portal, aims to replace the costly listings currently offered by market leaders Zoopla and Rightmove.

With Zoopla charging £300 per month per branch and Rightmove allegedly costing even more, chains of estate agents are currently facing costs of thousands of pounds per month – simply to secure those online listings which customers now expect to see.

The brainchild of a small number of key estate agencies including Savills and Knight Frank, OnTheMarket has already managed to secure just under 3000 branches – despite there being no online presence as yet.

Due to launch in early 2015; OnTheMarket, owned by Agents’ Mutual, says that it is giving agencies time to make the move over as undoubtedly, bespoke software will need to be tweaked in order to push information out to this new property portal.

Response to this news has been varied, with some agents relieved at having a potential alternative to the pricier portals, whilst others are very cynical about the new portal’s ability to usurp the leading positions of Rightmove and Zoopla.

The cost of listing properties on this new platform has yet to be revealed, but it is thought that it will provide exceptional cost savings for estate agents, who will be asked to agree to advertise on only one other portal, rather than on both Zoopla and Rightmove.

Which property portals will you be using to market your clients’ properties in the future? Do you think OnTheMarket has the UK estate agents’ best interests at heart or will you continue to offer listings on the top two sites? Will your customers’ demands change with regards to marketing their property?