Rightmove reveals latest AI step with ChatGPT app for AI enthusiasts and professionals

A major UK portal quietly submits an app to ChatGPT, and the implications ripple out to agents, AI vendors, and the architecture of search.

A young couple scrolls through a carousel of flats inside a chat window while a bored estate agent watches their tracking pixels disappear. The scene feels small and inevitable: discovery moves into conversation, and the middleman either adapts or asks for a refund. The obvious read is that Rightmove is extending its product reach by meeting users inside ChatGPT, but the more important story is how this move crystallises a new distribution battleground for AI assistants and vertical data owners.

This reporting relies primarily on Rightmove’s own press materials for the technical outline of the feature, with independent reporting used to map investor and market impacts. (rightmove.co.uk)

Why a ChatGPT app is different from a mobile feature update

Most product updates change the behaviour of existing customers. Plugging into ChatGPT changes where people start a journey. If users begin property discovery inside an assistant, the path-to-click that portals relied on can become a path-to-answer instead. That is not a small UX tweak; it is a redefinition of the early funnel that generates high intent leads.

Rightmove’s submission to the ChatGPT app directory is an explicit attempt to keep discovery within its brand while conceding the interface to a third party. The company says the app will return a carousel of live listings in response to conversational prompts and then steer users back to Rightmove for full details. (rightmove.co.uk)

Why Wall Street and proptech observers are watching now

Rightmove is investing heavily in AI and platform modernisation after a spell of investor unease about competitive and technological shifts. Public reporting in November 2025 showed the company would accelerate AI spend and accept lower profit growth in the near term to publish new capabilities and scale its data science efforts. That strategic pivot sparked a sharp market reaction, highlighting the tension between short term margins and long term platform defence. (ft.com)

Competitors such as Zoopla and OnTheMarket are not just watching; they are redesigning their own interfaces and data feeds to be accessible to assistant ecosystems. Meanwhile global players that control assistant platforms are standardising app directories and data contracts, which matters because distribution now depends as much on API terms as on product excellence.

What the ChatGPT app will actually do for users

Rightmove frames the app as an experiment in early discovery. A user will be able to address at-Rightmove inside ChatGPT, ask lifestyle informed questions, and receive a simplified set of matching properties drawn from live listings. The design intention is clear: reduce friction for the initial search, then funnel serious inquiries back into Rightmove’s conversion tools. Rightmove describes the app as a stepping stone to learn how conversational users behave. (rightmove.co.uk)

The practical interface is lightweight by necessity. ChatGPT will show a carousel rather than a full site experience, so the app plays the role of matchmaker, not full broker. That model works for discovery but shifts value capture away from click monetisation to lead quality and engagement metrics.

The numbers and deadlines that shape the bet

Rightmove told investors it planned to spend about 18 million pounds on AI next year as part of a 60 million pound multiyear programme, accepting that operating profit growth would slow to between 3 to 5 percent in the near term. That math explains the urgency to find channels where investment creates incremental reach rather than incremental cost. The ChatGPT app is explicitly positioned as an insight engine for future product decisions rather than a fully formed revenue stream today. (investing.com)

For context, the company reports over one billion minutes per month of user engagement across its properties, which is the asset being defended and repurposed through AI enhancements. The experiment is therefore less about raw traffic and more about preserving the pathway from casual browsing to a monetisable lead.

How the integration will change partner economics

Agents and developers who feed Rightmove must be prepared for different attribution models. If a lead arrives via an assistant, conversion windows, cookie matching, and existing CRM hooks will need fast adaptation. Rightmove has publicly hinted at agent-facing AI tools but has not yet published revenue sharing or attribution details, leaving a gap that third party software vendors are already trying to fill.

If assistants become the front door, marketplaces must compete on signal quality, not just listings, to keep commissions intact.

Real math for business owners who run agencies

Consider a mid sized agency generating 200 buyer leads per month via portal clicks at a 5 percent conversion to sale. If an assistant reduces click volume to the portal by 20 percent but improves match relevance so that conversion rises to 6 percent, the agency sees 160 leads and 9.6 sales versus 200 leads and 10 sales. That is the kind of trade off firms must model: fewer raw leads but potentially higher quality. Agencies that ignore lead hygiene and CRM follow up risk losing far more than a few clicks; they lose buyer intent that an assistant can prequalify in seconds.

For an enterprise portal, moving from paid click to paid lead would change ARPA by double digit percentages depending on attribution rules. Rightmove and agents will need to price for pre qualified leads, not accidental discovery, or accept margin compression.

Risks, unanswered engineering questions, and regulatory landmines

The experiment assumes assistants will reliably surface live listings and respect publisher scraping rules. Rightmove explicitly prohibits scraping of its content and will need contractual clarity with OpenAI or other assistant platforms on freshness of data and update cadence. Data provenance is also a risk; assistants summarising listings without clear sourcing could reduce transparency for consumers and regulators.

Investor reaction in late 2025 showed how quickly markets punish strategic ambiguity. Independent reporting and commentary flagged that the AI spend could shave billions from market value in the short term if investors doubt returns. That skepticism is a real constraint on how aggressively platforms can pivot. (the-independent.com)

What this means for the AI industry at large

The move is a practical milestone: vertical datasets are not merely inputs to models; they are distribution levers. When a leading portal ships an app to ChatGPT, it signals that the assistant ecosystem has matured into a sales channel for domain specialists. Vendors building retrieval tools, contextual embeddings, and live indexing pipelines will get much more commercial attention. For those who build data contracts and API-first publishing, there is a payday; for those who rely on scraping, there is a legal memo and a panic call to engineering.

Dry observation: the assistants do not care if a firm has a charming brand. They care about schemas, uptime, and whether the feed returns a postcode when asked for one.

Forward looking close

This experiment is a defensive play and a reconnaissance mission at once; if successful, it rewires discovery away from general search into conversational vertical experiences, and that is a material structural change for how marketplaces capture value.

Key Takeaways

• Rightmove submitted a ChatGPT app to keep early property discovery within its ecosystem while learning conversational behaviour. (rightmove.co.uk)
• The company is accelerating AI spend and accepting slower near term profit growth to protect long term market position. (ft.com)
• Agencies must model fewer clicks with potentially higher quality leads and renegotiate attribution accordingly.
• The assistant ecosystem turns vertical data into distribution power, increasing demand for live APIs and trustworthy data contracts. (investing.com)

Frequently Asked Questions

How will this ChatGPT app change the way buyers search for homes?
The app shifts the starting point for discovery from a website to a conversation, allowing users to ask lifestyle and location questions in natural language. Buyers may get faster, curated matches but will still need to visit Rightmove for full listings and agent contact.

Will agents lose leads because of assistant search?
Agents could see fewer raw clicks but sharper leads if assistants surface better matched properties and pre qualify intent. Success depends on how portals, assistants, and CRMs preserve attribution and handoff quality.

Does Rightmove get paid when property is shown in ChatGPT?
Rightmove has positioned the app as an experiment to learn user behaviour rather than a new paid channel; monetisation and revenue share details were not published in the initial release. Agencies should prepare for multiple commercial models that may follow.

Is this likely to make portals obsolete?
Not immediately. Portals own essential datasets, professional relationships, and transactional workflow tools that assistants cannot instantly replicate. Long term, the shape of value capture may change, but the data owners are not powerless in this scenario.

Should a small agency or proptech vendor invest in assistant integrations now?
Invest selectively. Prioritise reliable APIs, clean schemas, and conversion tracking hooks over flashy UIs; the technical plumbing is what assistants will reward with visibility. A clear experiment with plausible ROI is the practical play.

Related Coverage

Readers interested in the business mechanics should read more about platform attribution in assistant ecosystems and the emerging standards for assistant app directories. Coverage of how major classifieds respond to agent owned data and the evolving role of CRM vendors will be especially relevant in the next 12 to 18 months.

SOURCES: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/press-centre/rightmove-to-launch-app-in-chatgpt-in-next-phase-of-ai-innovation-2/, https://www.ft.com/content/4ac8bb83-a59c-4b45-b57d-902771db8724, https://www.investing.com/news/earnings/rightmove-shares-crashes-over-25-after-2026-profit-forecast-cut-on-higher-ai-cost-4341271, https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianaspehar/2025/11/11/uk-property-giant-rightmoves-ai–bet-sparks-short-term-1m-loss/, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/rightmove-ai-shares-investor-stock-b2860803.html. (rightmove.co.uk)