An iPhone app to find an ideal home

Property websites and estate agents have been rushing to launch new mobile phone applications that can help homebuyers search for properties, with upmarket agents Hamptons International and Knight Frank among the latest to offer these “apps” for users of Apple’s iPhone.

Online property portal Zoopla.co.uk is set to launch a similar iPhone app in the next few weeks, and high-end agent Savills said it was considering creating an app later this year.

“The internet revolutionised the way people bought and sold property because it cut out a lot of window- shopping – they could do this in their homes,” said Jonathan Cunliffe of Savills. “Apps are the next stage in this process.”

But it is not just property agents creating apps to help homebuyers – the mortgage industry is starting to get in on the act, too.

This week a new Mortgage Finder tool was launched for the iPhone, which searches through a list of UK lenders to source suitable mortgage deals based on the user’s search criteria. It was created by Robert Kelly, one of the founders of online mortgage sourcing system Orbiter. But in contrast to the free apps for property searches, Mortgage Finder costs £1.79 to download from the app store. No advice is offered through the app but Mortgage Finder can introduce users to mortgage brokers in their local area.

Mortgage broker Alexander Hall launched its own free app earlier this month which includes five basic mortgage calculator tools to help homebuyers work out how much they can borrow and calculate their monthly mortgage payments.

London & Country mortgage brokers says that in the coming months it will also look at launching an app with interactive tools, such as its one-minute mortgage check, currently available on its website.

Online estate agent Rightmove was the first UK property company to launch an app for mobile property searches in August 2009. Since its launch, rival firms Findaproperty.com, Hamptons International and Knight Frank have created similar apps.

The apps all allow users to search a location or postcode for properties. They will then display a list of houses available for sale, including full property descriptions, images and the contact details of the agent.

One useful feature is the GPS search, which locates the buyer’s exact position and enables users to find properties in that area – designed for those who prefer to visit the areas they hope to move to. GPS searches can be carried out using apps from Hamptons, Knight Frank, Rightmove and Findaproperty.com.

Both Knight Frank and Hamptons enable users to search for properties in other countries – a feature not offered by Rightmove or Findaproperty.com.

“We have 200 offices in 34 countries, so we wanted to make it a global app,” explained Patrick Ramsay, head of residential at Knight Frank.

The apps are already proving popular with prospective homebuyers. Natalie Marques of Rightmove says its app has had 530,000 downloads since its launch, and is now used by an average of 85,000 house-hunters daily, who perform 200,000 searches every day.

According to Marques, the app delivers email leads of more than 1,000 buyers a day. “It’s been very successful,” she says. “It’s been a top-five lifestyle app on the Apple store for the last six months.”

Property agents are now creating similar apps that will work with other mobile operating systems, such as BlackBerry, Android and Symbian. Rightmove says it will launch its service for other phones in May.