Within three months of the launch of HomeSwapper.co.uk, the online mutual home exchange service, half a million people have already searched the site.
HomeSwapper.co.uk, set-up to fill the gap left by the closure of the Department of Communities and Local Government's popular Homeswap service, is a proactive solution for social housing tenants looking to mutually exchange their homes.
With over 27,000 people already registered, and with hundreds more registrations every day, the site continues to grow in popularity throughout the social housing sector and has already seen a 12% increase in users since the beginning of April alone.
HomeSwapper.co.uk members come from all corners of the UK, therefore increasing the opportunities for tenants to swap not only within their own area, but also anywhere around the UK. The service claims that, once registered, there is a 70% chance of finding a swap.
Members of the site can register the details of the property they currently live in, post some photographs of their home and specify the type of property they want to move to.
As well as being able to search the site and check for any matching swaps online, once registered, members can also chose to receive weekly emails or fortnightly text messages detailing properties automatically matched to their requirements - HomeSwapper proactively finds matches for them.
The site also features a forum where swappers can ask questions about any of the registered homes they are interested in, which is a help when looking for a local school, finding out where the nearest shops are, or even finding out the local bus routes.
A recent members' survey saw nine out of ten people rate HomeSwapper as either 'Excellent' or 'Very Good'. Users of the service have also remarked upon how easy the site is to use and the enormous potential it offers.
With the objective of making the site accessible to all, HomeSwapper is targeting landlords to partner with the service to offer tenants without an internet connection paper based services.
Ralph Catto, chief executive of HomeSwapper, said:
"Through landlords partnering with HomeSwapper we can offer paper registration forms and can send monthly letters with potential swap details directly to tenants who do not have internet access or a mobile phone.
"This combines with our powerful online services - services which landlords have the ability to use on their tenant's behalf, seeing exactly what the tenant would see."
For tenants of partnering landlords, registration to the service is free. A small monthly registration charge is made to tenants registering from non-partnering landlords.
To find out more about HomeSwapper, visit HomeSwapper.co.uk.