Of course, here at Esales, we have to monitor a wide variety of property-related websites to market our client’s properties through. We don’t only cover the biggest sites that everyone knows globally, even though they tend to get the most attention. Every local market’s worth of real estate websites for local and international listings is included in our coverage.
Our research has shown that, outside of major cities, there are inadequate resources to help you find the very best of everything. So that we don’t miss a thing, we’ve produced a series of articles detailing the finest real estate websites on each continent and explaining why they succeed in selling European property abroad.
Etuovi.com, Helsinki, Finland
Etuovi, a division of Alma Media and a sibling of Vuokraovi.com, dominates the Finnish online advertising market. Etuovi is a typical pay-to-list portal concept for buying, renting, and selling property in Finland. It features a variety of filters that simplify the process for local consumers and new entrants.
The popularity of virtual tours, which have been available on the Etuovi website and app since the spring of 2020, has increased dramatically.
In Swedish: Hemnet.se
In Sweden, Hemnet serves as the standard portal. It’s a classic pay-to-list portal for buying, renting, and selling real estate; users may search the site’s inventory using a map, keywords, and whether or not a certain item provides virtual tours.
In the first half of 2022, Hemnet was identified as the “largest winner” by Online Marketplaces.
Scandinavian – Finn.no
Finn is Norway’s go-to website for buying and selling just about everything, including real estate, despite being more of a general marketplace. A listing on this site still requires payment, like any other traditional portal. Similarly to other “horizontal” platforms, it provides powerful filtering options to make your search more manageable. Today’s consumers can search for listings in a number of different ways, including by keyword, virtual tour availability, and map (by either typing in the desired location or drawing a shape on the map).
Website of Iceland (Visir.is)
When it comes to property portals, a prominent Icelandic news site is unrivalled while facing little direct competition in the country. A horizontal layout, or one that solely allows rentals, are the other two possibilities. Visir’s only business is real estate transactions.
Denmark – Boligsiden.dk
Danish portals have similar-sounding names, but the market leader, while having fewer search options than its closest competitor Boliga.dk, attracts significantly more visitors. Agents Groups support Boligsiden, which is run by agents.
Located in Germany, ImmobilienScout24.de
Despite its uninspiring moniker, Similarweb reports that the German market leader received over 40 million visits in June. Recently rebranded as ImmoScout24, this German portal is owned by Scout24, who are also responsible for the operation of WG Suche, yet another online real estate marketplace.
Another perk for shoppers is that they can view all of the photographs associated with an item directly on the search page, as opposed to having to click on the listing itself.
Homegate, Switzerland
Homegate almost edged out its main competitor, ImmoScout24.ch, in the fierce real estate market competition typical of a country much larger than Switzerland.
Homegate and ImmoScout24.ch, two of the largest real estate portals in Switzerland, receive only a few thousand more visitors per month than Scout24 sites, and they compete with many others.
However, Homegate has been the most popular website in June, per data compiled by Similarweb. The user-friendly mobile app on the real estate website allows for map search and the ability to doodle on the map.
Funda.nl – Nederland, Netherlands
Considering how compact the Netherlands are, it is surprising how many portals it hosts. But there is one that stands out from the competition in its field. As of June 2021, market leader Funda.nl claims to have over 34 million monthly visits from users.
Focusing on the kind of filters that are more forward-thinking, it includes map search, draw on map capabilities, and virtual tours.
Immoweb.be is a real estate portal in Belgium
Belgium, like many other relatively small markets with a plethora of real estate online options, has five major property websites, but just one is the best. Axel Springer’s market dominator in Belgium was established in 1996. Immoweb’s search engine includes a map lookup, a draw-your-own-map option, and a virtual tour filter.
French – Seloger.com
Logic-Immo, the number two French portal site, is also owned and operated by SeLoger Group. They are both supported by Axel Springer and have a combined total of nearly 20,000 advertising agencies.
However, SeLoger provides additional search filters than Logic-Immo does, such as a map search with a drawing tool, a keyword search, a virtual tour filter, and scrollable photos in the search results page.
Rightmove.co.uk in UK
Rightmove, which was founded in 2000 by major real estate brokerages, is now a benchmark for property search websites around the world. Rightmove, one of the top three UK property websites, is a classic pay-to-list site like its main competitor, OnTheMarket.
Homebuyers can use a variety of tools on Rightmove’s real estate website before clicking on a listing, including a map search, a map they can draw on, a virtual tour filter, a keyword search, and a scrollable image gallery.
There have always been two key companies in the UK portal industry, with Zoopla and Rightmove being the two most well-known names.
website based in Ireland called “Daft.ie”
As of June of 2021, 5.88 million people had visited Daft.ie, a traditional pay-to-list service serving the Irish real estate industry. Currently, users of Daft.ie can search using a map, with backing from Adevinta and Distilled Media (Fallon Brothers), each of which owns 50% of the Irish market-leading property portal. However, Daft.ie does not yet allow users to draw on the map.
While searching for a house on the real estate website, buyers can use filters to determine whether or not a property is pet-friendly, whether or not a listing offers a virtual tour, and whether or not photographs can be scrolled.
Idealista.com, Spain
Idealista is unusual among portal companies in that it has found success outside of its home market, with offices in five cities across three countries. This makes it the second- and third-best real estate website in Western Europe, respectively, on this list.
On Idealista’s listing results page, users may draw directly on the map, filter for “pet-friendly,” and browse through photos.
Idealista.pt – Portugal
Although OLX’s Imovirtual.com deserves a nod for its prominence in this category, Idealista has become the most popular Spanish webpage in neighboring Portugal. Investors Idealista, EQT, and Oakley Capital back the operations of Idealista,pt.
Real Estate in Italy | Immobiliare.it
With more than 55 million unique visitors per month and a network of over 20,000 advertising agents, Immobiliare is unrivalled as Italy’s leading property website. It is also the owner of the Spanish rental website enalquiler.com.
Immobilaire is a classic pay-to-list real estate website that allows users to draw an area on a map, view photos of available properties, and filter results based on whether or not they include virtual tours.
Some other top high-ranking sites to consider
Zillow
Website: https://www.zillow.com/
Realtor.com
Website: https://www.realtor.com/
Rightmove
Website: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/
Redfin
Website: https://www.redfin.com/
Appartments.com
Website: https://www.apartments.com/
Trulia.com
Website: https://www.trulia.com/
realestate.com.au
Website: https://www.realestate.com.au/
idealista.com
Website: https://www.idealista.com/
o-uccino.jp
Website: https://o-uccino.com/
suumo.jp
Website: https://suumo.jp/
immobilienscout24.de
Website: https://www.immobilienscout24.de/
zoopla.co.uk
Website: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/
immobiliare.it
Website: https://www.immobiliare.it/
homes.co.jp
Website: https://www.homes.co.jp/
funda.nl
Website: https://www.funda.nl/
idealista.it
Website: https://www.idealista.it/
cian.ru
Website: https://www.cian.ru/
realtor.ca
Website: https://www.realtor.ca/
domain.com.au
Website: https://www.domain.com.au/
Onthemarket.com
Website: https://www.onthemarket.com/
Europe is shared by 50 countries. By the conventional definition, there are 44 sovereign states or nations in Europe. Not included are several countries namely Turkey, which occupies only a small part of East Thrace on the European Balkan Peninsula. Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, is geographically part of Asia Minor (Middle East). The Faroe Islands, an island group between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean are a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenland, which geographically belongs to North America, is as well an autonomous Danish territory. Kosovo is a partially recognized state in the Balkans.
A small piece of Western Kazakhstan is also considered to be part of Europe.
