Rightmove’s share price has fallen by more than a quarter after the UK’s biggest property portal told investors it will slow near-term profit growth in order to fund a major new programme of artificial intelligence investment.
Rightmove Shares Plunge
Rightmove used its early November trading update to outline a significant shift in strategy, announcing plans to spend around £60 million over the next three years on AI-driven upgrades to its platform, tools and internal systems. The company said this investment is central to how it intends to run the business, improve its product suite and position itself for higher long-term growth.
Consequently, the company now expects underlying operating profit to rise by only 3 to 5 per cent in 2026, compared with about 9 per cent growth this year. Revenue growth for 2026 is still forecast at between 8 and 10 per cent. Investors reacted sharply to the reduction in profit expectations, pushing the share price down by as much as 28 per cent during early trading. The stock recovered some ground later in the day, although it still closed more than 12 per cent lower and hit a new 52-week low.
Chief executive Johan Svanstrom said the company was “already working on a wide range of exciting AI-enabled innovations” and that AI is “becoming absolutely central” to how Rightmove operates. He said the investment would “create an even stronger platform and higher-growth business over time”, with the company targeting more than 10 per cent annual revenue growth by 2030.
Why Is Rightmove Investing So Heavily In AI?
Rightmove has framed this new strategy as a deliberate move into an investment phase that runs from 2026 to 2028. The company says the spending will cover three areas, which are:
Consumer-facing improvements, including conversational search tools that allow users to describe what they want in natural language, more personalised recommendations and a virtual mortgage assistant that can guide users through affordability and product options.
Major upgrades to Rightmove’s internal systems, where AI is expected to automate workflows, speed up data processing and improve customer service. This includes what the firm described as re-platforming significant parts of its back-end infrastructure.
Research and development focused on new products and revenue lines. Rightmove has already identified more than two dozen AI projects it wants to develop during this investment cycle.
The company said these tools are designed to help both consumers and agents by improving search accuracy, increasing the speed of listing updates and delivering more actionable insights from the portal’s large data sets.
Why The Market Reacted So Strongly
The sharp fall in Rightmove’s share price reflects a combination of surprise and wider market anxiety. For example, investors have traditionally viewed Rightmove as a highly predictable, low-risk business with very high margins, low capital requirements and steady subscription income from estate agents and developers. Therefore, a sudden fall in forecast profit growth, even if temporary, looks like a significant departure from expectations.
The sharp market reaction reflects a mix of scepticism and uncertainty. For example, analysts have noted that although investing for future growth is usually welcomed, the size and timing of the planned AI spend left investors questioning whether the short-term hit to profit was justified. Commentators have also highlighted that while AI could help Rightmove make better use of its data and improve efficiency, there were concerns the company might be committing substantial funds to technology projects without clear evidence of how quickly they would deliver returns.
Analysts at UBS described the move as a “strategic pivot” that leaves the market with unanswered questions about the timing and return on investment. Others, including RBC (Royal Bank of Canada’s investment banking and research division) and Peel Hunt (a UK-based investment bank and equity research firm), have taken a more positive view, suggesting the sell-off may be overdone and arguing that the investment could help Rightmove maintain its lead in an increasingly competitive market.
The update also seems to have come at a difficult moment for global technology stocks more broadly. For example, fears of an overheating AI sector have triggered sell-offs across US and European markets over the past week, and investors appear cautious about companies committing large sums to AI projects with uncertain payoff periods. Rightmove’s update therefore landed in a market already highly sensitive to any sign of increased spending on AI.
Implications For Agents And The Property Industry
Rightmove’s paying customers are estate agents, lettings agents, developers and other professionals who rely on listings and data tools to win clients and run their businesses. For them, the impact of the new strategy depends on whether the AI improvements genuinely make the platform more effective.
Rightmove has already launched products such as Optimiser Edge, which uses data to help agents target new instructions and improve marketing. Strong take-up has encouraged Rightmove to double down on data-led tools. If the new AI tools deliver as promised, agents could access richer insights into pricing, demand, buyer behaviour and lead quality. That could help them work more efficiently and justify the portal’s subscription fees, which have been a long-running flashpoint in the industry.
Some agents may welcome these updates, whereas others are likely to be concerned that rising investment costs could lead to further fee increases. This tension has been reflected in a new legal claim against Rightmove that accuses the company of unfair pricing. Although the claim is separate from the AI announcement, the perception of rising costs will remain a key issue for stakeholders.
Developers, landlords and corporate property owners may benefit from more accurate pricing tools, better audience targeting and stronger data on local market dynamics. If Rightmove uses its data to launch new B2B products, this could strengthen its position further across the property ecosystem.
Homebuyers, Renters And Landlords
For individual users, the difference will mostly be seen in the platform experience. For example, conversational search could make it easier to find suitable homes without navigating multiple filters. AI-driven recommendations may also surface properties more relevant to specific needs or preferences, while improved data analysis could give buyers and renters clearer insights into pricing trends, local demand and affordability.
These tools could, therefore, save time for renters, first-time buyers and families trying to navigate an often opaque and fast-moving market. More accurate recommendations could also mean fewer wasted viewings.
However, these improvements come with quite a few questions. For example, more personalisation means more data use, and users will want to know how their information is used, stored and analysed. There is also a broader debate over whether automated valuation tools could introduce bias or distort local pricing. As AI becomes more visible in property technology, these issues will attract increased attention.
The UK Property Market
Rightmove dominates online property search in the UK by a wide margin. This means that any shift in its operating model actually has potential implications for the wider housing market. Better search tools could, in theory, improve matching between buyers and sellers, shortening transaction times and reducing friction.
More accurate pricing tools may help reduce the difference between asking and achieved prices, particularly in slower markets. Improved analytics could help developers understand demand patterns and assist landlords in managing rental portfolios.
However, that said, a more advanced platform could also strengthen Rightmove’s position. For example, competitors such as Zoopla and OnTheMarket already invest heavily in technology, and they may now face pressure to respond with their own accelerated AI programmes. If Rightmove’s AI tools become significantly more advanced than its rivals’, agents may feel increasingly locked in. This raises questions about competition, pricing power and how much choice agents and landlords can realistically exercise.
The Portal Landscape
It’s worth noting here that Rightmove’s rivals have been developing their own AI tools for some time now, particularly in automated valuation, user search and agent dashboards. The size of Rightmove’s latest programme may lead competitors to increase their own investment or reposition themselves more aggressively on pricing.
For estate agents, the announcement could signal a future in which portals compete less on the volume of listings and more on the intelligence and value added by their technology. The next few years are likely to be defined by how well AI helps agents attract vendors, manage leads and handle day-to-day operations.
For investors, the key question here may be whether this investment pays off in the second half of the decade. Rightmove believes its operating profit will begin to rebound after 2028 and that higher growth rates will follow. The stock market will, no doubt, be watching pretty closely to see whether those expectations translate into real performance, stronger user engagement and a clear competitive edge.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
The immediate challenge for Rightmove is proving that these investments will deliver practical improvements rather than simply increasing costs. Investors will want to see evidence that AI tools can streamline operations, deepen user engagement and support new revenue lines without undermining the predictability that has defined the business to date. Estate agents will also be watching closely because AI driven workflows and data products will only be seen as valuable if they genuinely help them win instructions, price properties more accurately and run leaner operations. For those users, the question is less about the scale of the investment and more about whether it translates into tools that make day to day work faster and more effective.
Homebuyers, renters and landlords face a different set of considerations. For example, if conversational search and personalised recommendations improve accuracy and reduce wasted time, the platform could feel more intuitive and more useful during a move. Concerns around data use and algorithmic fairness will still need addressing as AI driven products expand, but the potential for clearer pricing insight and better matching remains significant. The wider property market will also feel the effects because more precise analytics and smarter discovery tools could influence how quickly homes sell, how properties are valued and how landlords plan their portfolios.
The broader implications for UK businesses are based around adoption, competition and capability. Many firms are assessing how quickly they should modernise their own digital systems, and Rightmove’s shift illustrates how even established, highly profitable businesses are accelerating their AI strategies. It provides a useful signal to UK decision makers that AI investment is increasingly being treated as a long term infrastructure requirement rather than an optional upgrade. For companies that supply or rely on property insights, there may be new opportunities to integrate richer data streams into planning, risk assessment and market forecasting.
Competitors will now need to decide whether to match this level of investment or differentiate more clearly on price and service. The risk for the wider portal landscape is growing concentration if Rightmove’s AI programme strengthens its lead, although the response from rivals is likely to shape how the market evolves. If they produce credible alternatives with strong AI features of their own, agents and landlords may benefit from greater choice and lower pressure on fees.
For regulators and policymakers, the developments highlight a sector where data, pricing power and platform dominance intersect. The balance between innovation and competition will be important because the benefits of AI will only be felt widely if the market remains open, transparent and fair for users. The next few years will reveal whether this investment cycle creates a more efficient and more dynamic property ecosystem or whether it intensifies existing concerns about market concentration and rising costs.