Rightmove half-year results 2026: growth holds as New Homes cuts guidance

Rightmove's half-year results contain two rather different stories. The core Estate Agency business is performing strongly, supported by high customer retention, rising membership and increased spending on premium products. New Homes, however, is facing a much tougher market and has prompted management to reduce full-year revenue guidance.

The UK's largest property portal reported 7% revenue growth for the six months ended 30 June 2026, while underlying basic earnings per share rose 6%. It also announced plans to return more than £400 million to shareholders over the 12 months to July 2027.

That is an eye-catching capital return, but investors should not overlook weaker profit margins, higher operating costs, reduced revenue guidance and a proposed legal claim seeking damages of up to £1.56 billion.

The full details are available in the original company announcement.

Rightmove's key financial figures

Metric	H1 2026	H1 2025	Change
Revenue	£225.8 million	£211.7 million	7%
Operating profit	£148.2 million	£145.4 million	2%
Underlying operating profit	£155.1 million	£151.3 million	3%
Underlying operating margin	69%	71%	Down 2 percentage points
Basic earnings per share	14.8p	14.1p	5%
Underlying basic earnings per share	15.6p	14.7p	6%
Interim dividend per share	4.17p	4.05p	3%

Revenue growth was comfortably ahead of profit growth. Administrative expenses increased 17% to £77.7 million, reflecting investment in technology, additional employees, higher depreciation and amortisation, cloud costs and £2.3 million of legal and professional costs connected with the proposed claim.

Underlying operating margin fell from 71% to 69%. This remains exceptionally high, but the direction matters. Rightmove is spending more now to develop its technology and expand beyond traditional property listings.

Estate Agency remains the main engine

Agency revenue rose 9% to £163.9 million, making it the clear driver of group growth. Agency membership increased 1% from December 2025 to 16,591 branches, while customer retention remained at 96%, its highest first-half level in more than a decade.

Agency average revenue per advertiser, or ARPA, increased 8% to £1,636. ARPA measures the average monthly revenue generated from each advertiser. The rise reflects package upgrades and greater spending on additional products, rather than simply adding more customers.

Average products per agency branch increased 14% year on year, while 36% of independent agents subscribed to Rightmove's Optimiser Edge package.

This is encouraging because it suggests estate agents continue to see value in the platform despite elevated mortgage rates and an uncertain housing market. Rightmove is not relying solely on customer growth. It is persuading existing customers to purchase more services.

New Homes is the weak spot

The New Homes division produced a much less convincing volume performance.

Revenue increased 2% to £38.2 million and ARPA rose 7% to £2,247, but the number of listed developments fell 4% from December 2025 and 6% year on year to 2,766.

Management said developers are experiencing some of the most difficult conditions since the global financial crisis. New developments are entering the market at their lowest rate in more than a decade, reflecting softer construction rates and subdued demand.

Rightmove has therefore reduced its full-year group revenue growth guidance from 8% to 10% to 6% to 8%. The change is attributed entirely to lower New Homes development volumes.

Full-year Core membership is now expected to change by between minus 1% and plus 1%, with New Homes developments forecast to decline 6% to 10%. Estate Agency membership is still expected to grow by around 1% to 2%.

Can AI investment strengthen the platform?

Rightmove is investing heavily in artificial intelligence and product development. It delivered more than 4,000 technology releases during the half, 40% more than a year earlier, and had 46 strategic AI initiatives in progress.

Its Ask Rightmove conversational search tool showed an early increase of around 40% in average time spent on the site among users engaging with the feature. Those users were also roughly twice as likely to send leads.

Online Agent Valuation supported an approximately 50% increase in unique valuation leads sent to estate agents. Meanwhile, new and enhanced New Homes products helped produce a threefold increase in direct appointments booked.

Rightmove also plans to launch new agentic-powered solutions for estate agents during the second half. Agentic AI refers to systems designed to carry out multi-step tasks and workflows, rather than simply responding to individual questions.

These early engagement figures are promising, although they are not yet proof of a material long-term financial return. Investors will want to see whether stronger engagement translates into sustainable revenue growth and improved customer productivity.

Audience strength remains a major advantage

Rightmove reported a 90% share of time spent across property portals according to Comscore, with an alternative measurement putting the figure at 75%. More than 85% of traffic was direct and organic, while less than 0.5% came from large language models.

That direct audience relationship is important as online discovery changes. It suggests consumers deliberately visit Rightmove rather than depending heavily on paid advertising, search engines or AI platforms to reach it.

Total time spent on the platform declined to 8.4 billion minutes from 9.1 billion, however, reflecting lower UK property browsing. This remains above the 8.3 billion minutes recorded in H1 2024.

For further company coverage and key information, see the Rightmove Plc share page.

More than £400 million of capital returns planned

Rightmove returned £124.7 million through dividends and share buybacks during the half. It purchased and cancelled 17.4 million shares, representing 2.3% of outstanding share capital, at a cost of £75 million.

The company now expects to return more than £400 million by 31 July 2027, including approximately £330 million of share buybacks. It has arranged a new £200 million revolving credit facility, which it currently intends to use to help fund the additional purchases.

A revolving credit facility is a flexible borrowing arrangement that can be drawn and repaid as required. Rightmove was debt-free during the reporting period, and the new facility was undrawn when the interim accounts were approved.

Operating cash generation remained strong at £160.7 million, equivalent to 108% of reported operating profit. The larger buyback could support earnings per share by reducing the number of shares in circulation, but it also introduces leverage into a business that previously operated without debt.

Guidance is intact below the revenue line

Despite cutting revenue expectations, Rightmove maintained its full-year guidance for underlying operating profit growth of 3% to 5% and underlying earnings per share growth of at least 5%.

Management also reiterated ARPA growth guidance of £110 to £120 and expects Strategic Growth Areas revenue to increase by 20% to 30%.

Those newer activities delivered mixed first-half results. Commercial Property revenue rose 13% to £8.4 million and Rental Services revenue increased 67% to £5.6 million. Mortgages revenue declined by £1.1 million to £3.4 million, partly because of a demanding comparison with H1 2025.

What investors should watch next

The strongest part of this update is the Estate Agency business. Retention is high, membership is growing and customers are spending more on premium packages and additional products. Cash generation also remains impressive.

The concerns are concentrated around New Homes, rising costs and execution. Revenue guidance has been cut, underlying margin has declined and Rightmove is combining heavier technology investment with a substantially larger capital return.

There is also legal uncertainty. A proposed competition class action seeks damages of up to £1.56 billion. Rightmove considers the claim to be without merit and plans to defend it vigorously. A certification hearing is scheduled for November 2026, while exceptional costs connected with the matter are expected to total approximately £4 million to £7 million during 2026.

The central question for the second half is whether strong Agency pricing, AI-led products and faster growth from newer services can continue to offset the shortage of New Homes developments. Rightmove's core economics remain powerful, but the reduced guidance shows that even a dominant platform cannot completely escape difficult conditions among its customers.