Lurgan's GCD aims to refresh and relaunch the sales and lettings property website

Northern Ireland’s GCD Technologies is investing £1million in Propertynews.com to refresh and relaunch the sales and lettings property website.

Having owned the website for a year, the Lurgan firm plans to invest in technology, staff, branding and marketing as part of a strategy to continue to rapidly grow Propertynews and provide real choice for agents, homebuyers and renters in Northern Ireland.

In the year since GCD acquired the platform, sales listings have grown by 35% and rental listings by 61%. The number of agents using the site has grown by 27%, with 90 new agents joining Propertynews in the past 12 months.

Propertynews is now run by a team of more than 10, including three new recruits, two of whom - Emma McNally, commercial director, and Richard Kilner, customer care manager - previously worked for the business in its earlier days under past owners.

In addition, Emma Kerr, who was GCD marketing director, has been appointed managing director of Propertynews.

She said: “This is a very exciting time for Propertynews and for GCD. We undertook significant brand and market research before embarking on a rebrand and we’re really pleased to bring a refreshed platform to the market to help us serve our agent customers even better and to attract even more homebuyers and renters to the site. We have invested significantly in the website and to expand the team.

"In conjunction with our estate agent partners, we look forward to continuing to grow the business strongly into the months and years ahead.”

Looking forward to the new site, Eoin O’Hagan, branch manager of CPS Belfast, continued: “As an agency with multiple branches across the province, CPS are excited to see the Propertynews rebrand and growth in a number of our key areas, such as Enniskillen, Omagh, Dungannon and Armagh. We look forward to seeing Propertynews expand its offering to estate agents in the coming months.”

Dan Henry, owner of Bensons Coleraine, explained: “We have had a long standing history with Propertynews, beginning over four decades ago with the Propertynews magazine and continuing with their launch of the first property portal in NI in 2000.

"It is tremendous to see the business continue to innovate under the helm of their new owners at GCD Technologies and we look forward to a continued successful working relationship with the website.”

Mary Lou Press, partner, Alexander Reid & Frazer, Downpatrick, added: “Alexander Reid & Frazer has been a customer of not only the Propertynews website but also of their suite of software products that were designed and built by GCD Technologies.

"We’ve enjoyed a close working relationship with both businesses for many years. We’re really excited about the launch of the new Propertynews website and their upcoming marketing drive. As a major player in the Northern Ireland property market, we rely on them to deliver exposure and leads for our portfolio of home sellers and renters across County Down.”