Online property is a fiercely competitive space, but one where innovation still seems to move fairly slowly. London-based Zoopla has arguably done a better job of taking a different approach, and since we first profiled the site in August 2008 the firm has acquired Thinkproperty.com from the Guardian Media Group, acquired PropertyFinder from News International and, more recently, acquired houseprices.co.uk.

On top of a new Android app this year, a property archive and partnerships with Archant, AOL and BBC Worldwide, Zoopla’s most recent addition is a new heat map.

Zoopla’s USP is its house price data that contextualises its property searches and makes it noticeably different from the competition – a pretty compelling tool for house hunters and nosey neighbours alike. The heat map re-presents this data in a different way, aggregating property values across the UK and showing average property size, price and number of properties with each view. Given the seemingly endless British appetite for property, it’s likely to find an enthusiastic audience.

Zoopla claims it is seeing faster growth than competitors Findaproperty and Primelocation, with all three outsripping market leading Rightmove. Nielsen figures for May this year put Zoopla at 1.9 million users for the month, up 43.6% from April, while Rightmove saw 12.1% growth.