FTSE-style property ranking launches with top 100 | Letting Agent News: Industry News | Residential Letting Software | Rentman

FTSE-style property ranking launches with top 100 | Letting Agent News: Industry News | Residential Letting Software | Rentman

A new FTSE-style property website for investors has launched. It treats properties as an investment, and rates them accordingly.

Rankdesk will publish a weekly Top 100 list of high performance investment properties in central London.

It will take properties and their descriptions from estate agency partners who, it claims, are set to benefit by having these placed before a national and international audience.

The properties will be ranked on methodology including rent, proximity to tube stations, local tenancy demand, room sizes and overall yields.

The site is now in testing mode, with launch partners Douglas & Gordon and Marsh & Parsons – both award-winning estate agents in London.

Currently, the site is appealing for more estate agents to back it. Their property listings will be free for at least one year, and there is also a free trial for investor subscribers. It is anticipated that agents will eventually be charged a nominal fee of, perhaps, £30 a month.

Rankdesk founder and LSE lecturer Savvas Verdis, who also has a PhD in architecture, says the business was established following his observation that unlike stocks or bonds, or even commercial property, residential property “lacks the necessary in depth investment data required by the global investor”.

Verdis said: “For the first time, investors can assess properties using a comprehensive analytical platform which will help them take more informed investment decisions. This platform gives estate agents exposure to a captive audience. There is flexibility within our model, so agents can preview our rankings a week in advance and remove properties if they wish to do so.”

Agents who meet Rankdesk’s minimum property data requirements can list their properties for free in 2011, while premium services are available for those agents who distribute Rankdesk’s detailed five-page reports to their customers.

As soon as the estate agents are signed up, Rankdesk will automatically find the necessary data from the agent’s own website. Their property stock will be analysed on a weekly basis and appear on the Top 100 list, which will be published every Wednesday morning.

Ed Mead, of Douglas & Gordon, said: “Rankdesk will be an extremely useful tool for property investors, particularly those based overseas, and it will only improve over time. It offers analysis based on comprehensive detail and clever methodology. There’s simply nothing else like it, so we are delighted to be involved.”

Peter Rollings, managing director of Marsh & Parsons, said: “Rankdesk provides comprehensive insight to buyers looking to invest in London property. This provides us exposure to both domestic and international investors alike. With inquiries from international investors to our own international desk increasing, we expect our overseas purchasers, who require pertinent information in order to make an informed decision, to make full use of rankdesk.”

www.rankdesk.com

Article courtesy of Estate Agent Today Sign up for EAT newsletter