Friday 30 July 2021 9:21 am

Rush to beat stamp duty cut off lifts Rightmove profits

Row-of-housing — The company posted a pre-tax profit of £114.7m, up from £61.6m from the same period last year

Profits at property search site Rightmove soared in the first half of the year amid surging demand in the UK housing market driven by the stamp holiday.

The company posted a pre-tax profit of £114.7m, up from £61.6m from the same period last year.

Prospective homebuyers rushed to complete property purchases before the tapering of the stamp duty holiday on 30 June, which drove consumers to Rightmove’s property search portal.

Rightmove said web traffic hit record levels during the pandemic, with 1.4bn visiting the site in the first half of 2021, driven by prospective homebuyers searching for larger properties with gardens.

Peter Brooks-Johnson, chief executive of Rightmove, said: “The first half of 2021 brought further lockdowns, instilling in many a desire or motivation to move home.”

The company’s shares were up 0.41 per cent in morning trading.

Rightmove achieved record levels of web traffic during the pandemic, registering 1.4 billion site visits in the first half, as customers reassessed housing needs.