Rightmove has announced a series of AI developments, which it claims will help estate agents reach more potential renters.

The firm says that it has 27 AI initiatives in development, and that it aims to make AI technology central to its platform to benefit both partners and home-movers.

The four new developments listed below are already being introduced:

AI Keywords - is beginning to roll out on the Rightmove app and helps people to more easily find a home that fits their exact requirements using select smart prompts, such as “exposed brick”, “river view” or “underfloor heating”. The AI technology, trained on Rightmove’s 25 years of data, goes beyond existing filters, scanning images and texts in property listings to deliver more relevant properties, and a more intuitive experience for home-movers.

Vendor Prediction Model - Rightmove has also developed a new AI-powered Vendor Prediction Model that uses predictive insights from billions of datapoints across the Rightmove platform to share valuation opportunities more confidently with estate agents.

Online Agent Valuation – this was recently launched and uses a built-in AI-powered writing tool that helps agents speed up the process of writing a personal note to a potential seller. Early data shows that more than a fifth of agents who are using the tool are already using the technology to assist them in connecting with valuation prospects more quickly.

Style with AI - helps potential buyers to emotionally connect with properties by visualising their potential and putting their own stamp on the property. People can remove furniture from images, adjust lighting, and change the style of a home, for example to a Scandi or Art Deco style, to better imagine themselves living there.

The new tool, initially available to a subset of Rightmove users, helps to alleviate some of the issues potential home-movers encounter when looking at property images, helping them to consider what the space might look and feel like as their own. It aims to prevent more future home-movers being put off by the current condition of a property.

The market reaction was negative

After the property‑portal announced the major ramp‑up in AI investment, it added that the cost of introducing the AI tools will temper profit growth in 2026. Shortly after, shares in Rightmove plunged sharply on 7 November, falling by almost 28% before rebounding to end the day down almost 13%.

Rightmove’s plans to spend heavily on artificial intelligence at the expense of profit growth deterred investors and sent shares in the property listings website down, wiping more than £1bn off its market value.

Next year, Rightmove plans to invest an additional £12m on its profit and loss account, alongside £6m on capital projects, to advance its technology and AI strategy. The £12m equates to roughly 4% of expected profits and is expected to delay the achievement of some revenue growth targets.

In a trading statement, Rightmove’s CEO, Johan Svanstrom, said that AI will be “absolutely central” to the company’s operations. He outlined a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud aimed at enhancing Rightmove’s data, AI, and platform capabilities.

RBC Capital Markets analyst, Anthony Codling, reportedly said: “When founded, Rightmove was in the right place at the right time. It harnessed our love of homes with a growing love of the internet creating a business where 2+2=5. Yes the Group worked hard, but its timing blessed it with super normal returns.

“However, times have changed, and the current management want to take Rightmove to a new level, to harness AI in the way that the founders harnessed the internet…but these new proposals may be a case of two steps back to move three steps forward.”

40% of AI projects may fail

US firm Gartner, which advises companies on how best to embrace new technologies, held an IT Symposium at the end of October in Florida.

Gartner estimates that, on average, for every one AI tool purchased, an organisation will see 10 ancillary, hidden costs they did not anticipate (examples include licensing, legacy integration, managing access credentials for AI agents, comparison testing, security, etc.).

This means that business leaders who go into the AI procurement process thinking it will cost $1.9m and take 100 days to implement (the average cost and effort expectation) are actually seeing it cost much more and take much longer, making a return-on-investment difficult to achieve.

Gartner estimates that, by 2027, 40% of AI projects will have failed. A Gartner survey also found that 74% of CFOs are seeing productivity gains from AI, but only 5% have managed to cut costs and just 6% saw any kind of revenue uplift.

Maybe we will still have jobs for a few more years after all.