LONDON, June 20, 2026, 21:05 BST
- Rightmove shares ended Friday at 417.9 pence, off 1.35% on the day and down 1.95% for the week.
- The property portal moves to the FTSE 250 at Monday’s open after dropping out of the FTSE 100.
- Mortgage affordability is still a key test for Rightmove. The group’s heavier technology spending is also under watch.
London markets were shut on Saturday, so Rightmove finished its last FTSE 100 session at 417.9 pence. Shares dropped 1.35% Friday and lost 1.95% for the week. The move to the FTSE 250, which covers firms outside the top 100, will take effect when trading starts on Monday.
Rightmove is dropping out of the index after falling 19.6% this year and losing 45.8% over 12 months. The company is now valued at around £3.1 billion. The change is driven by rules, not by anything to do with Rightmove’s business. But the shares can feel it as index-tracking funds will need to rejig their holdings.
Turnover shot up to 29.1 million shares on Friday, way above the less than 6 million traded in each of the last four sessions. Rightmove rose on Monday and Tuesday, then dropped the next three days. The timing suggests heavy index-linked trades, but public market data hasn’t shown which orders came from trackers.
The UK housing market stayed weak. Asking prices for new listings dropped 0.6% in June, the sharpest June drop in 14 years. Buyer demand was down 10% in May compared with last year. Sales agreed slipped 6%. “It’s unusual to see a price fall of this size in June,” said Colleen Babcock, a property expert at Rightmove. Reuters
Bank of England keeps rates at 3.75%, split vote signals caution
Borrowing costs are still the top issue. The Bank of England left its key rate at 3.75% on Thursday, voting 7-2, with two officials favoring an increase to 4%. “The bar for hikes remains high,” said George Brown, senior economist at Schroders, adding the central bank can’t ignore rising inflation expectations. Reuters
Rightmove is relying on its scale. In May, the company said it had over 80% of all consumer time on UK property portals compared with Zoopla and OnTheMarket. The company reported that traffic from large language models, which power AI chatbots, was less than 0.5%. CEO Johan Svanstrom called early results with Rightmove’s new AI-driven search “positive.” Investegate
Rightmove kept its 2026 revenue growth target at 8% to 10%. The company said underlying operating profit should climb 3% to 5%, pointing to more spending on AI and new products. Markets are watching whether that spend protects Rightmove’s lead in property portals without hitting margins again.
Rightmove kept up its £90 million buyback Friday, snapping up 160,000 shares at an average price of 425.172p to cancel. The purchase made up less than 1% of the day’s reported trading, so it did little to counter the index reshuffle flows.
UK ministers laid out a housing-reform roadmap on Friday with new digital logbooks and standard sales packs required for deals, and binding conditional contracts coming later. The move could mean greater demand for verified listing data and transaction tools. Rightmove hasn’t reported any direct financial upside yet from the proposals.
But risks are still there. If mortgage rates stay high or the summer slowdown turns worse, agents and developers may hold back from buying premium packages. Rightmove is also dealing with a £1.5 billion Competition Appeal Tribunal claim over fees it charges. The company says the case has no merit and plans to fight it.
FTSE 250 opens with its first debut of the week on Monday. Rightmove doesn’t report again until July 31, when half-year numbers are due, so shares face post-rebalance moves, new mortgage rates and any shifts in the housing market. Technical selling could slow for now. The bigger strategy issues stick around.
