This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
NEWS Corp’s REA Group, operator of major listings portals realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au, reported a 24% year-on-year jump in revenue in the March quarter, helped by growing listings across the residential and commercial sectors in Australia.
Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was up 30% to $177 million, and revenue hit $334 million.
The Australian residential business posted a 27% uplift in revenue. Buy revenue growth was driven by a 19% increase in buy yield, 6% growth in national listings – Sydney listings rose 20% and Melbourne by 18% – and a positive impact of revenue deferral. Buy yield also benefited from a 13% average national price rise, increased premium product and total depth penetration, and a positive impact from geographical mix.
“The Australian property market maintained its strong momentum during the quarter with seller confidence and healthy buyer demand driving activity,” said REA Group chief executive officer, Owen Wilson.
REA Group’s network of brands holds three of the top four rankings across all Australian property websites, according to Ipsos. Its flagship site, realestate.com.au remains the number one property site, attracting 11.2 million visitors on average each month, with 52% of those being exclusive users.
Rent revenue increased with an 8% average price rise and growth in depth penetration, partly offset by a 5% decline in listings.
REA Group said the earlier timing of Easter impacted growth rates for national residential listings. March declined by 9% year-on-year, while April increased 32%, also benefiting from a particularly weak comparable month in 2023.. Sydney and Melbourne continued to outpace other markets in April, up 45% and 53% respectively year-on-year, driving year-to-date national listing up 7%.
Based on current market conditions, REA Group is anticipating listings growth of 5% to 7% for FY24.
Residential buy yield growth is expected to be at 18% to 19% in the FY24. In FY25 it is expected to be driven by an average 10% price increase in its highest penetrated listing product, Premier+.
Commercial and developer revenue increased during the March quarter. Commercial revenues were driven by an average 11% price rise and increased depth penetration and listings. Developer revenue was flat, with lower project commencements offset by increased project duration.
Realcommercial.com.au received 1.6 million visitors each month, 2.7 times more than the nearest competitor.
Property.com.au is now the number three property site, the Ipsos poll showed, reaching over two million visitors per month.
Excluding the impact of the CampaignAgent acquisition, Group operating costs grew 14%. Australian expenses were up 15%, driven by employee costs increasing due to accelerated investment and higher performance-related incentives, and increased marketing costs.
REA India posted a 31% increase in revenue in the seasonally strong March quarter, largely driven by Housing.com’s property advertising business, promotional events, increased depth penetration and improving monetisation in tier 2 cities, and growth in adjacency services on the Housing Edge platform, REA Group said.
