A new AI-powered rental portal has launched, specialising in London and aiming to take on Rightmove.
It appears to want to advertise agent stock, rather than take listings directly from landlords.
So far publicity for nHabit has targeted agents in order to build its pipeline of stock for tenants to interrogate.
It will operate like this:
- Free tier: Up to 3 active listings per month at zero cost, Agents signing up now can enjoy unlimited active listings for the first 3 months;
- Transparent pricing: Pay as you go model starting at £10 per listing per month (with volume discounts up to 30%);
- Premium flexibility: For the agents that choose to subscribe to nHabit monthly, there will be additional features and custom market reports when the Premium and Platinum tiers are launched – with early adopter discounts;
- No lock-in: Choose the package that fits your business, scale up or down as needed;
- Innovation: AI-powered tenant matching, verified lead pipeline, neighbourhood compatibility scoring, and deep analytics that traditional portals don’t provide.
A statement from the creators urges agents to compare its fees with Rightmove’s charges, especially after recent increases. nHabit claims agents on Rightmove pay up to 13.5% of their monthly commission to the portal.
A statement from its creators says: “While legacy portals lean on market dominance to justify price hikes, nHabit is launching with a fundamentally different model that treats agents as partners, not profit centres.
“The platform’s AI matchmaking technology can identify personally suitable locations and properties, including in areas the user may never have considered.
“This means properties appear in curated recommendations to renters who genuinely match the area, lifestyle, and property type, helping to cut through the noise of generic portal listings and avoid postcode saturation.”
The founder, Steven Charlton, says in an appeal to potential agent advertisers: “Instead of fighting thousands of generic listings, your properties sit in curated suggestions. You get access to a bigger pool of potential tenants who are genuinely compatible with what you’re offering.”
nHabit says many independent agents face unprecedented pressures in recent years: rising wages, compliance costs, insurance premiums and technological investments
It also criticises what it calls “gross market power with a huge monopoly” exercised by the likes of Rightmove.
The new portal’s statement goes on: “For renters, nHabit offers swipe-based discovery, AI-powered recommendations, personalised compatibility scores and access to hidden gems beyond the traditional portal listings.”
