Portal AI, verified · updated September 2026
Rightmove AI, and what it means for agents
Rightmove AI now covers conversational search built on Google’s Gemini, an app inside ChatGPT, AI photo restyling for buyers and a growing set of AI tools for agents.
Zoopla and OnTheMarket have moved too. This guide lists what each portal has actually launched, taken from their own announcements, and what it changes for your branch.
01 · The record
Portal AI launches, 2023 to 2026
Every date below comes from the portal’s own press release or results statement.
OnTheMarket moved first, in 2023. Rightmove and Zoopla accelerated sharply from late 2025.
By its half-year results in July 2026, Rightmove reported 46 strategic AI initiatives, up from 31 in December 2025.
02 · For buyers and renters
Rightmove AI search: keywords to conversation
Search is moving from filters and tick-boxes to plain sentences.
In November 2025 Rightmove launched AI Keywords in its app, so buyers can search for features such as “exposed brick” or “river view”.
In February 2026 it added a conversational search beta behind a “Use AI” button, built with Google Cloud on Gemini models.
The practical effect for agents: what is written in your listing now decides whether it surfaces, not just the tick-boxes you fill in. Our guide to the AI property description generator covers writing for it.
03 · Ask Rightmove
Buyers now question your listing directly
In July 2026 Rightmove extended its conversational AI to individual property listings.
Ask Rightmove lets a buyer ask questions about a listing in plain English. It uses Google Gemini, Google’s agent platform and Google Maps data.
Rightmove’s early results, on data to 30 June 2026, showed about 40% more average time on site and roughly double the propensity to send leads.
These are company-reported figures from a listed company’s results, not an independent study.
04 · Side by side
Rightmove AI, Zoopla AI and OnTheMarket AI compared
What each portal has publicly launched or announced, as of September 2026.
The three portals have taken different routes: Rightmove has partnered with Google, Zoopla with OpenAI, and OnTheMarket has built its own natural-language search.
Both Rightmove and Zoopla now have apps inside ChatGPT, which means some home movers never open the portal’s own site at all.
05 · For agents
Rightmove AI tools aimed at your branch
Filter by area. Maturity reflects how long each tool has been available, not how well it works.
Most of Rightmove’s agent-facing AI sits inside products you may already pay for, such as Rightmove Plus and Opportunity Manager.
Rightmove says new “agentic-powered solutions” for estate agency workflow will go live during the second half of 2026. We have not seen them confirmed live yet.
The gap none of them fill is the phone: portal leads still arrive as calls to your branch. That is where AI for estate agents UK usually starts.
Online Agent Valuation
Rightmove’s valuation product for agents, launched October 2025 with generative-AI tooling.
- →Captures valuation leads
- →Gives the valuer a starting point
Opportunity Manager AI
Proprietary AI models that predict which homeowners are likely to sell.
- →Prioritises canvassing
- →Flags likely vendors early
Property Performance Overview
An AI beta explaining listing performance, trialled with about 10% of agents in Rightmove Plus.
- →Summarises how a listing is doing
- →Supports vendor updates
AI reply writing
An AI writing tool, mentioned in November 2025, to help agents reply to home movers.
- →Drafts replies to enquiries
Agentic tools for agencies
Announced in July 2026 for the second half of the year. Details and availability not yet confirmed.
- →Workflow and efficiency, per Rightmove
AI receptionist
Answers the calls portal enquiries generate, qualifies the caller and books the viewing or valuation.
- →Answers evenings and weekends
- →Books into your live diary
- →Writes the record to your CRM
Maturity is our editorial read of how widely each use is deployed in UK agencies, not a survey figure. Vendors named are examples, not endorsements.
06 · Images
Style with AI and the labelling rules
Tick what your agency already does. Nothing is stored.
Style with AI lets buyers restyle rooms or remove furniture in listing photos inside the Rightmove app. That is a buyer tool, not a licence for agents to edit freely.
Rightmove’s technical guidelines allow AI-generated or enhanced images only if they don’t misrepresent the property, are clearly labelled, and sit alongside current, accurate photos.
Rightmove may remove content that breaks these rules. Our guide to AI virtual staging covers the consumer-law side.
07 · Zoopla AI
Zoopla AI: OpenAI and smarter filters
Zoopla has bet on OpenAI rather than Google.
In September 2025 Zoopla released eight search features, including AI-powered filters for cottages, “fixer uppers” and period properties.
In April 2026 it signed an enterprise agreement with OpenAI after 18 months of AI testing, and put all its listings into a Zoopla app on ChatGPT.
Zoopla says app users of AI search saw 80% more listing views and 150% more leads. Those are Zoopla’s own figures, not independently verified.
08 · OnTheMarket AI
OnTheMarket AI: from Otiem to Smart Search
The first major UK portal to put AI into search, by its own account.
OnTheMarket, now owned by CoStar, soft-launched Otiem in July 2023: a natural-language AI search assistant, alongside AI listing and description tools for agents.
In August 2026 it was promoting “Smart Search, powered by AI”, a natural-language property search.
We found no published OnTheMarket or Zoopla rules on labelling AI images, so we apply Rightmove’s standard across all portals.
09 · What it means for you
Better-informed buyers ask harder questions
An illustrative call from a buyer who has already questioned the listing through a portal assistant.
Buyers who have asked an AI about your listing arrive knowing the basics, and ring about the things it couldn’t answer.
That makes the call more valuable, and a missed one more costly.
An AI receptionist should answer what the listing supports, never guess, and hand anything else to a negotiator with a note.
10 · The new baseline
Instant answers online set the bar for your phone
The best-known study of lead response times found the odds fall away within the hour.
A buyer used to instant answers from a portal assistant will not wait until Monday for a call back.
Harvard Business Review found firms that made contact within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify a lead as those that waited an hour longer. It is a 2011 US study across industries, but the logic carries.
More in our guide to speed to lead.
11 · Where it lands
Portal AI sends the lead, your branch answers it
However clever the search, the enquiry still reaches your branch.
Portal AI makes the top of the funnel smarter. It doesn’t answer your phone, qualify the caller or book the viewing.
Rightmove reported that under 0.5% of its traffic came from AI chatbot referrals in 2026, so the portals themselves remain the main route in. We cover the wider picture in AI search for estate agents.
Lettings Quest is designed to work with Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket enquiries alongside your CRM, so every lead gets an answer. For lettings, see AI for letting agents UK.
FAQ · Rightmove AI
Questions, answered
The things agents ask us first, in plain English.
Sources · every figure on this page