Could Social Media Eventually Replace Property Portals?

I was recently having a conversation with an American realtor, and she told me something that really made me think. In many parts of America, properties are heavily marketed through Facebook community groups, local pages, and social media networks. Buyers follow agents they like and trust, and homes are often discovered through scrolling rather than actively searching on a property portal.

At first, I thought it sounded completely different to how we do things here in the UK. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised… are we actually moving in that direction ourselves and will social media eventually replace property portals? Because if you look back over the last few decades, the way we advertise property has already changed massively.

The Evolution of Property Advertising

When I first started in agency working on the high street, local newspapers were everything. People would pick up the weekly property supplement and spend their Saturday mornings circling homes they liked. Estate agents would compete for the best advert positions and biggest photos in the paper. But when was the last time you bought a newspaper specifically to look for property?

That entire style of advertising has almost disappeared. And it is not just newspapers that have changed. Estate agent offices used to be hugely important too. Buyers would physically walk in, register their details, look through printed particulars in the window, and speak to agents about new instructions. When was the last time you walked into an estate agent's office to start your property search? Most people do everything online. They browse on their phones in bed, during lunch breaks, or while sitting on the sofa watching TV. The traditional shop window has effectively become digital, and in the palm of our hands.

First newspapers faded away. Then the importance of the physical office reduced. So is it really impossible to imagine another shift happening in the future too?

The Rise of Video Tours and Social Media Marketing

I think one of the biggest turning points came during Covid. When people could not physically attend viewings, estate agents had to adapt quickly. Suddenly video walkthroughs, virtual tours, Instagram reels, and Facebook videos became essential. And buyers got used to it surprisingly quickly.

What originally started as a necessity became an expectation. Now, many buyers almost expect to experience a property online before deciding whether they even want to view it in person. Static photographs alone no longer feel enough for many listings. And honestly, it makes sense. A video walkthrough gives you atmosphere. It gives you flow. You get a better sense of how the home feels, not just how it photographs. That is something social media does incredibly well.

Why Does Social Media Work So Differently?

Emotional Connection

Property portals are practical. Social media is emotional. When you are on Rightmove or Zoopla, you are actively searching. You are filtering by price, bedrooms, postcode, and square footage. But social media works differently. You might not even be looking for a house, yet suddenly you see a cosy kitchen, bifold doors opening onto a garden, or a beautifully styled living room and start imagining yourself there. Social media sells a feeling before it sells a property.

Video Walkthroughs

Video content has completely changed the way homes are marketed. A good property video can make buyers feel connected to a home before they have even booked a viewing. It helps people picture themselves living there in a way that photos sometimes cannot. And platforms like Instagram and TikTok are designed perfectly for this type of content because video naturally grabs attention faster than static images.

Local Reach

This is the part I found particularly interesting from my conversation with the American realtor. Community Facebook groups can be incredibly powerful because they are filled with people who already know and love the area. Maybe someone has family nearby. Maybe they already rent locally and want to buy there. Maybe they are specifically trying to get into a certain school catchment. Social media can place a property directly in front of people who already feel emotionally connected to the location itself.

The Challenge With Community-Based Property Marketing

When Michaela and I first launched Heart & Home, one thing we always wanted to do was give local buyers the opportunity to see properties before they hit the portals. Even now, we still try to share our homes on local Facebook community pages first where possible. The idea behind it is simple really. Why not give people already living in or connected to the area the chance to discover a property before it gets pushed out to the wider market?

The engagement could be incredible. People could tag friends and family, recommend roads and villages to each other, discuss schools, local walks, cafés, commuting links, and suddenly the property becomes part of a wider community conversation rather than just another listing online.

But there is also an interesting downside to it. There can sometimes be a surprisingly negative attitude towards estate agents advertising on community pages. Posts are often removed by admins, discussions can become hostile, and property marketing is sometimes viewed as spam rather than useful local information. Which raises an interesting question... Are general community groups actually the wrong place for property marketing altogether? And if so, should there eventually be dedicated housing-focused community pages for specific towns and villages instead?

People are naturally curious about what is coming to the market locally. They want to know what homes are selling for, what is available nearby, and whether friends or family may be moving into the area. At the moment, though, social media property marketing still feels slightly caught between two worlds. Buyers are there, agents are there, interest is there... but the structure around it has not fully evolved yet.

Lifestyle Marketing

Buyers are not just buying four walls and a roof anymore. They are buying a lifestyle. Morning coffee spots. Countryside walks. School runs. Cosy evenings. Entertaining spaces. Quiet villages. Community. And social media is except

ionally good at selling lifestyle because it blends property with personality and storytelling. That is much harder to achieve on a traditional portal listing.

But Property Portals Still Matter

Now, do I think Rightmove and Zoopla are disappearing anytime soon? No, probably not. Because portals still do something social media cannot quite compete with yet: structured searching. If you are actively looking for a four-bedroom detached home within a certain budget and radius, portals are incredibly efficient. Buyers can filter, compare, save alerts, and track the market easily. Social media is still much more discovery-based. You stumble across homes rather than specifically searching for them and that is the biggest difference right now.

So What Would Need to Change?

I think the answer probably lies in AI. Social media platforms are already becoming frighteningly good at understanding us. They know what content we engage with, what locations interest us, what style of homes we pause on, and even what stage of life we may be entering.

So what happens when property searching becomes more personalised? Could we eventually reach a point where homes are recommended to us before we even consciously search for them? Instead of typing filters into a portal, could AI eventually learn our preferences and serve us properties based on lifestyle, habits, routines, commute patterns, or interior tastes?

It sounds futuristic, but if you think about it, social media algorithms already do this with almost everything else we consume online. Property may not be that far behind.

My Opinion

Personally, I do not think social media will completely replace property portals any time soon. But I do think the role of social media in estate agency is becoming far more significant than many people expected. The estate agents standing out today are often the ones embracing video, storytelling, branding, and personality alongside traditional marketing methods. And perhaps that is where the industry is heading. Not necessarily replacing portals altogether (or not yet, at least), but moving towards a world where social media becomes just as important as the portals themselves.

After all, there was probably a time when people thought newspaper property supplements would last forever too.

Written by

Abby Wheeler

Director

Heart & Home