Other real estate marketplaces highlighted in the 141-page report included Schibsted, Naspers, Rightmove and CoStar, while themes including AI and consolidation were also analysed.

An Overweight label indicates the bank's opinion that the corresponding company's stock will outperform the sector average moving in 2025. The other labels are Neutral and Underweight.

REA Group was deemed Overweight with JP Morgan saying that, at the core of its thesis, "REA [continues] to take vendor wallet share from [rival portal Domain]."

Domain was labelled Underweight and is expected to underperform in 2025, with the bank saying downgraded offers and free listings led to Domain's average revenue per listing (ARPL) falling by more than 50% from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025. In other words, according to JP Morgan, Domain stock has limited upside in the next 12 months.

In the United Kingdom, Rightmove was also deemed Underweight after it became embroiled in an unexpected tug-of-war with REA in September 2024. JP Morgan said:

On the short side, we stay cautious on Rightmove (UW) - with the final curtain fallen on the Rightmove/REA deal, investor focus has shifted to Rightmove’s strategic execution in the next 12 months with a high bar now set on delivering shareholder value in years to come.

Through a European lens... Rightmove [is] overly expensive for low relative earnings growth over the outlook period.

Meanwhile, an Overweight tag was also reserved for CoStar Group, with JP Morgan on the record saying it has "high conviction" in CoStar's strategy:

We maintain a high-conviction call for CoStar.

The quality of [CoStar's] content is confirmed by over 100M monthly unique visitors (retail customers) across a range of online platforms. The majority of the revenues (>90%) are subscription based with an over 80%+ renewal rate, meaning a highly scalable operating model. CoStar Group already generates >$2.7B in revenue and sizable EBITDA margin (when excluding substantial spend on residential business expansion).

We think the company can deliver an 18% 3Y top-line CAGR. We like CoStar Group’s strategy of widening the audience of potential users of its must-have real estate information services through an online marketplace platform.

In mainland Europe, Overweight marketplace operators included Prosus, Naspers, and Schibsted, while Scout24 was upgraded to Overweight earlier this year.

JP Morgan said:

We recently upgraded Scout to Overweight from Neutral, with the stock standing as one of our top picks across European Internet – pairing competitive top-line growth with ongoing margin expansion, and compounding attractive valuation against its peer-set.

At the same time, we believe the current market environment is likely to reward resilient, less cyclical earnings momentum – where we see the company as positioned to benefit from additional product launches next to a strong core business going forward.

JP Morgan also discussed core themes including digitalization, artificial intelligence, and the likelihood of consolidation in the coming years:

The benefits of AI continue to unfold with product development, content creation and consumer experiences now in focus. There remains a need to tap into new revenue streams, which have already started to unfold. New product offerings include: a) more digital capabilities (such as entirely virtual viewing in the property vertical); b) transaction models that offer entirely new, incremental revenue streams; c) dynamic pricing options; and d) plenty of ancillary services.

The scene looks set for consolidation in Europe and beyond. Strategic activity in the sector has remained high in recent years, with Private Equity showing a strong willingness to engage Online Classified models, with ongoing strategic M&A in play. We expect this narrative to continue, if not intensify.

The $13.4bn take-out of Adevinta in May this year may prove the catalyst the market has been waiting for, and we see growing opportunity to further European marketplace consolidation, while the recent separation of Axel Springer’s classifieds business (now fully to private equity) may see more assets come to market, not withstanding CoStar’s ambition to consolidate across the rest of Europe. Importantly, we continue to see scope for Prosus (OW) to deploy further capital into classifieds, should attractive options arise.

With Classifieds a capital-light asset model where personnel expenses take the lion’s share of costs, we see headcount efficiency under scrutiny.

Finally, Prosus achieved the highest share price increase from January-November 2024, up 41% for the period, while Domain shares dipped the most at -19%. Interestingly CoStar share prices went down by 14%, while REA shares were up 36% for the period.

Oceania: View Media Group launches REIP Nexus data on its portal

View Media Group, which operates view.com.au, has integrated REIP Nexus data into its portal.

REIP Nexus will provide view.com.au with access to property listing data on over 10 million off-market properties and high-quality Sales Price Estimates.

Antony Catalano, Executive Chairman at View Media Group, commented:

"We are always looking at ways to ensure our products and services provide the best possible experience for property seekers and to our agent partners. Partnering with REIP Nexus ensures our audience has access to rich data on over 10 million properties to assist them in their property research.

"Our property seekers also receive access to REIP Nexus sophisticated Sales Price Estimate tool providing agents and their vendors with an up-to-date price on their property. These tools work hand in hand with agents to stimulate the market and create potential vendors."

REIP and VMG entered a multi-year partnership earlier this year as view.com.au looks to rival Domain for the number two spot by listings volume in Australia.

Catalano said view.com.au has seen sales listing volumes grow from less than 130,000 to over 185,000 listings in the past 13 months.

United Kingdom: Jitty launches first monetised service

The AI-powered challenger portal Jitty has released its first monetised service—allowing buyers to access homes before they hit traditional portals like Rightmove and Zoopla.

Dubbed "Jitty Pre Market", Jitty will work directly with estate agents and send email digests with off-market opportunities in specific areas, granting early access to properties nobody else has seen.

Jitty hasn't revealed the price point for the feature.

Graham Paterson, CEO at Jitty, said on LinkedIn:

"Jitty Pre-Market shows you homes before they go onto portals - sometimes days before, sometimes hours, sometimes weeks. Some homes will never even make it onto the portals. And as they’re pre-market they sometimes won’t have the usual information, just basics like bedrooms, size, address, and price - they’re literally pre-marketing. It’s our first paid-for feature, and there will be a big discount for early signups."

Europe: Gestilar iBuyer expands operations to five major cities

The iBuying subsidiary of residential construction specialist Gestilar, "Homes by Gestilar", has revealed it is now operating in five major Spanish and Portuguese cities.

The firm says it is now live in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Malaga and Lisbon. Meanwhile, Homes by Gestilar has bought, renovated and sold 300 properties since it launched in 2022.

Gestilar also said it took on a project to renovate 66 apartments in the prestigious Salamanca neighbourhood of Madrid.

Miguel Silmi, CEO at Homes by Gestilar, told El Economista:

"We have a system, an ERP [enterprise resource planning], which is an asset manager in which, both in the acquisition of the reform and the sale of the assets, all salespeople and technicians have a real-time application.

"Every time they see a business opportunity or any modification to the reform or a sales opportunity, they have online access to decision-making by the company’s management committee to make agile decisions at any time.

"We have taken the concept of house flipping to the extreme. The demand in the Salamanca neighborhood is extreme; in recent years the absorption that has taken place is six houses a month, and with the business model that we have put in place in this last month, we have sold 14 houses — we have doubled the usual rate of sales in the market.

"Therefore, it is an agile business model that can be extrapolated to different segments of the real estate industry."

Asia: Hogangnono adds banner ads to showcase agents

Hogangnono, the subsidiary of the South Korean rentals brokerage Zigbang, has launched a banner advertising offer for agents specialising in rental properties.

The "ApartmentPro" feature is for apartments only, showing the name, photo and contact details of certified realtors on banner ads.

ZigBang said the new ads provide agents with more opportunities to consult with users of ZigBang and Hogangnono.

Jason Ahn, CEO at ZigBang, said:

"We expect that users’ brokerage service experience will also improve through apartment-specialized certified real estate agents in each region.

"We hope that users will not miss this golden opportunity to be introduced as the first complex expert on Hogangnono."

Europe: Scout24 CEO to step down, successor already appointed

Tobias Hartmann will leave his position as CEO at Scout24 in March due to personal reasons, and his successor has already been appointed.

Scout24's current Chief Product & Technology Officer, Ralf Weitz, will take over from Hartmann for a period of five years, starting 1 March 2025.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, said in a press release:

"The Supervisory Board is looking forward to continuing the close and trustful collaboration with Ralf Weitz. He will assume the CEO role from Tobias Hartmann on 1 March 2025, in addition to his role as Chief Product & Technology Officer. Due to his many years of experience and impressive track record within the company as well his product management expertise, Ralf Weitz has everything it takes to further drive the successful strategy and growth of Scout24 SE.

"Tobias Hartmann has led and developed the company with great success since November 2018. During his tenure, the Group's revenues, profitability and growth have increased remarkably. As a result, the company has delivered exceptional results and created excellent value for its shareholders. Under his leadership, the Scout24 Group has been focused on the real estate business. Tobias also completed successfully several strategic acquisitions to strengthen the company’s market position. We regret his departure but respect his decision not to extend his contract for personal reasons after two successful terms."

Tobias Hartmann said:

"Scout24 SE is a very special company. It has been an extraordinary honor and pleasure to steer and manage the company over the last few years together with such a strong and committed team."

Scout's most recent financial filing was made in October—the Q3 2024 statement announced typically strong performance.

Meanwhile, Scout24 hired a new specialist CTO in September, appointing Gertrud Kolb to the role. It is unknown whether Kolb joined the company in the knowledge that its CEO was due to depart and the CPTO was set to step up to fill the role.

Swedish rentals proptech Qasa appoints new CEO

Maria Björkander has been appointed CEO of Qasa, the Schibsted-owned proptech that provides Sweden’s largest service for renting out housing.

She replaces the co-founder of the company, Fredrik Strömsten, who left the company in September to join Sana.

Strömsten and the rest of his cofounders all stepped down in September.

Björkander, who was most recently a product manager at Volvo, said:

"I am taking over the leadership at Qasa at an incredibly exciting time.

"The company has had an impressive development in recent years and really proven that both the product and the business model work on the Swedish market by becoming the largest in rental housing. Now we are facing the next phase, both in terms of the development of the business and expansion into new markets. It feels incredibly fun to lead this strong and committed team into the next chapter in our growth journey."

Qasa operates in Sweden and Finland and is set to expand to Norway as part of strategic partnerships with the market-leading real estate portals Finn.no and Oikotie.

Adevinta Spain head of digital leaves

Aingeru Duarte has left his role as head of digital at Adevinta.

Duarte returns to MediaMarkt, where he worked before joining Adevinta.

Duarte is one of many Adevinta employees to leave the business in a flurry of changes since Permira and Blackstone took control of Adevinta earlier this year for circa $13 billion.

The company has already renamed its Spain entity, divested from Irish portal Daft.ie (and other Irish marketplaces under the Distilled Media umbrella.

United Kingdom: Houseful enters consultation period with potential redundancies at its software division

Houseful is entering a consultation period with some employees in its software business, with veteran Nikki Cole being the first big name to leave the company after 17 years.

Houseful's software segment includes Alto Software, Jupix and Expert Agent and CFP.

A spokesperson for Houseful said:

"As we look to 2025, we are focused on driving further efficiencies in our software business and recalibrating certain roles in our organisation. These proposals, which do not impact our core products of Alto, Jupix, Expert Agent and CFP, were very much a last resort.

"We want to reassure our customers that no roles involved in the development, support, or delivery of these products are affected. Our goal is to ensure we continue delivering enhanced products and services at pace, maintaining the value our customers expect from these industry-leading platforms. We are fully committed to supporting our affected colleagues throughout this process."

Staff at Zoopla are not expected to be affected.

Cole posted on LinkedIn to announce her departure, saying:

"After 17 years working across estate agency, new homes, commercial portal and software – from start up, to PLC, and then PE owned, it’s finally time for me to hang up my ZPG/Houseful hat and move on to new adventures."

Oceania: REA Group appoints new national customer training manager

REA Group has appointed Tara Christianson as the group's new National Customer Training Manager.

Christianson will lead customer training initiatives across franchises, ownership groups and agencies.

The appointment comes as a response to customer feedback which found 60% of consumers wanted more proactive support and training.

Christianson said:

"We’re doubling down on service, committed to helping you get bigger, better results. This new structure is about creating better employee experiences so that we can create better customer experiences. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and I’m feeling good."

Asia: Carousell cuts 7% of jobs amid demand slump

The Singaporean horizontal marketplace Carousell has cut 76 jobs in response to lower demand from consumers.

A spokesperson for the company told This Week In Asia:

"Affected roles were from both business and tech departments … with ongoing slowdown of consumer demand, we sought to proactively make adjustments to ensure the long-term sustainability and operational efficiency of our Group."

Carousell lost $38 million in 2023, from revenues of $116 million.

Sahibinden hires new CTO

The Turkish generalised marketplace Sahibinden has appointed technology veteran Bulent Akar as the firm's new CTO.

He was previously CTO at Turkey's leading food delivery platform Yemeksepeti, and he is currently co-founder and Chairman at the boutique software development and consultancy firm Agada Tech.

The News Corp-backed giant has filed a federal court case against Domain for scraping 181 exclusive listings on realestate.com.au and then placing them on Domain's Pricefinder and Insight Business platforms.

REA claims intellectual property for all photos and schematics of each listing.

A spokesperson for REA Group said:

"Domain has systematically sourced content from a very large number of realestate.com.au listings without permission.

"REA does not restrict photographers or agents from using listing images in any way and they remain free to use them on any website or other property listing platform."

However, Domain has rebuked the lawsuit and argued that REA does not hold a monopoly over data submitted by homeowners and agents who use REA's platforms.

A spokesperson for Domain said:

"Of great concern is REA's efforts to acquire controlling ownership of valuable data from the agents and vendors who pay for this photography.

"This transfer of ownership shuold be deeply concerning to the industry, as yet another example of a dominant market participant taking actions that reinforce its position."

Domain argues it sourced and obtained the listing data legitimately according to "legitimate contractual arrangements...where the data is openly available."

Nevertheless, Domain said it has removed each of the 181 offending listings from its platform after being shown evidence of REA's intellectual property.

Is "Amoral" REA taking advantage of Vendor Paid Advertising?

Depending on your bias towards the original listing platform—REA, a dominant market leader that Domain readily admitted in its statement, or Domain, the rival trying to keep up—you could argue that both REA and Domain may be in the wrong here.

Australia's Financial Review quoted one agent as branding REA's lawsuit as "anti-competitive and dangerous behaviour"—even going so far as accusing REA of being "amoral" by "approaching consumers and photography companies to get intellectual property rights over photography."

Meanwhile, Matt Lahoud, CEO at The Agency, commented: "The vendor pays for the marketing and the photography, so they really have the decision."

But Domain's attack on the anti-competitive nature of REA's lawsuit may be distracting from its failings in due diligence before scraping the offending listings, which REA insists are exclusive to its platform.

Also worth noting is Australia's vendor-paid model, in which homeowners pay to market their property, including the cost of professional photography. Given this, then Domain may have a case; REA is claiming ownership of something they haven't paid for or even created—only used to create a listing.

Assuming the homeowner has intellectual property of an image of their home before it gets published to a listing, do they lose that intellectual property after they instruct an agent? The answer will have significant repercussions for both REA Group and Domain when this lawsuit closes.

Sam McDonough, the former head of Airbnb Australia, has become executive chairman, effective December 2024. Current Chairman Garry Garside will remain on the board as a non-executive director.

Meanwhile, long-serving CEO Greg Bader will step down to be replaced by current Chief Operating Officer, Jan Ferreira. Bader will remain at Rent.com.au to oversee a transition period until approximately February 2025.

Garside said:

"It has been a privilege to serve as the Chairman of Rent.com.au as the business has grown from a small online classifieds website to becoming a significant operator in the property sector with a suite of products focused on the renting community.

"I would like to thank Greg [Bader] for his contribution as CEO over the past 8 years. His passion to change the status quo and unwavering dedication to customers have seen Rent.com.au become the top-rated real estate app in the country and with RentPay, opened a new segment and established a platform without peers."

Rent.com.au is publicly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. As a micro-cap business, the company struggled to grow meaningfully since 2022, with quarterly revenues mostly flat quarter-to-quarter.

While it won't be a surprise to hear that the incoming Ferreira will likely be charged with growing revenues at Rent.com.au, a particular focus will be on turning the RentPay product into a profitable venture (RentPay recorded an EBITDA loss of A$600,000 in Q1 2025).

Watch Online Marketplaces' interview with Greg Bader on the PPW Podcast below:

Europe: Etagi to take on market leaders as an Aggregator

Etagi, a hybrid brokerage and marketplace in Russia, is set to take on market leaders Cian and Avito by transforming into a real estate aggregator.

Founder Ildar Khusainov told Newslab that Etagi's core innovation this year was to support more real estate agents around Russia by pivoting into an aggregator.

Etagi will open its website to other real estate agencies to list properties and will provide tools for their promotion, including Etagi's popular mortgage offering, and over 1,500 strategic partnerships with developers and banks.

Khusainov said:

"For the Russian real estate market, where, as a rule, the real estate business is built on the principles of autonomous databases of properties, this is a revolutionary solution.

"We have long discussed this development option, now it has become more than relevant and will allow, among other things, to support small real estate agencies in these difficult market conditions. We are ready to provide the opportunity to use the resources of our site to place properties of other agencies and provide tools for their promotion. Only by creating competition for established models can the market be developed."

Cian and Avito are two of the largest marketplace businesses in the world.

Cian redomiciled itself in Russia in September after recording strong results in Q2, while horizontal marketplace giant Avito had its app unceremoniously removed from Apple's app store this summer.

United Kingdom: Zoopla adds agents' carousel for extra visibility

Zoopla has added a "property for sale" carousel at the bottom of listings pages for the listing agents, to add visibility to extra stock on the agent's books.

Zoopla listings also show the total number of properties listed on Zoopla. Agents also have the opportunity to highlight their membership in organisations like the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), further enhancing their credibility.

Rich Hayes, Chief Operating Officer at Zoopla said:

"We recognise that a big part of why agents choose Zoopla is to gain additional reach and exposure for their property listings.

"This is why we’re doubling down on driving increased exposure for agents on the Zoopla website, which will deliver increased lead volume and quality in time. This is just the beginning of how we’re improving ROI for our brilliant agent partners, with much more to come in 2025."

Zoopla also announced improvements to its Find Agents page, whereby consumers can now search for an agent by geography, radius, agent type and even agent name simultaneously, delivering even more tailored results.

OneDome acquires mortgage advisory firm Albany Park

OneDome has acquired mortgage advisory firm Albany Park from HatBox Group to boost its homebuying services offering.

OneDome clients will benefit from widened access to expanded mortgage offerings and a further enhanced homebuyer journey.

Babek Ismayil, chief executive at OneDome, said:

"We are thrilled to welcome Albany Park Mortgages to the OneDome family.

"This acquisition enhances our ability to deliver seamless mortgage solutions to customers while offering greater choice and convenience. With Albany Park Mortgages’ expertise, we continue to push forward in our goal of transforming the home-buying journey and setting a new standard in the industry."

Steve Whatley founder of Albany Park, added:

"We are on the verge of exciting changes as we launch our new brand, Cignpost Insurance.  With this new focus on health and protection, we are very pleased to have found such a suitable home for Albany Park Mortgages and its mortgage advisers."

United States: Zillow launches Observed Rent Forecast

Zillow has released the Zillow Observed Rent Forecast (ZORF). ZORF provides forecasts for the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), which measures changes in asking rents over time.

ZORF data is available nationwide for single-family homes and multifamily residences.

Zillow said:

Rental prices and the rental market are inherently interconnected with the for-sale real estate market. To effectively capture the relationship between these two markets, and to leverage our industry-leading, for-sale market forecasting suite in ZORI forecasting, we pioneered a structural approach grounded in solid economic theory and well-supported by empirical evidence.

Oceania: REA Group to launch privacy first advertising products in 2025

REA Group has announced it will offer new advertising solutions to unlock actionable insights and deeper personalisation, enabling customers to better target their campaigns while giving consumers increased transparency and control over the use of their data.

Developed in collaboration with LiveRamp, a leading data collaboration platform, the solution will launch in early 2025 for media customers.

The LiveRamp Clean Room will create a secure and controlled data collaboration environment with approved partners allowing REA to deliver top insights to advertisers.

Rob Hudson National Sales Director (Media) at REA Group, said:

"We’re delighted to partner with LiveRamp to provide REA customers with optimised insights that support the execution of their advertising campaigns.

"Our personalisation strategy is at the core of realestate.com.au’s audience leadership, with more than 11.9 million Australians visiting realestate.com.au on average each month.

“We know the industry is grappling with audience fragmentation and upcoming privacy legislation changes will shine an even brighter spotlight on data use. REA is committed to privacy best practices, and we continue to invest heavily in uplifting our privacy capabilities while ensuring we have appropriate consumer consent."

Asia: MagicBricks adds Site Visit product for home buyers and developers

MagicBricks, the India-based real estate marketplace, has launched a Site Visit product for home buyers and developers to streamline property visits for new-build properties.

The company says the product has already been used 16,000 times resulting in more than 1,000 bookings

MagicBricks said:

The Site Visit product addresses key challenges for both home buyers and developers. Many homebuyers, due to busy schedules, miss out on visiting multiple properties while deciding on their ideal home. On the other side, developers face challenges in engaging high-intent customers effectively.

The Site Visit product offers a comprehensive experience, beginning with expert project recommendations tailored to buyers’ specific needs. By considering factors, such as budget, location, and configuration, MagicBricks curates a shortlist of properties that aligns with buyers’ preferences. Furthermore, the product provides logistical support, ensuring a seamless experience as buyers visit selected properties.

Sudhir Pai, CEO at Magicbricks, said:

"This initiative not only simplifies decision-making for buyers but also provides logistical support, benefiting developers by presenting a more focused audience and creating an effective sales funnel by bringing in high-intent buyers to tour new properties. It further adds value through repeat visits, signaling strong buyer interest. In some instances, buyers have viewed 4-5 properties in one day, reducing decision-making time by nearly 50%.."

MagicBricks competes with the likes of 99acres and Housing.com for market leadership in India, one of the most fiercely fought battles for number-one status in global marketplaces.

Emlakjet launches B2B service Emlakjet Link for member offices

Emlakjet, one of Turkey’s leading real estate marketplaces, has launched a B2B service for agents looking to gain sales authorization for branded projects in Turkey and abroad.

The new Emlakjet Link service allows real estate offices to work directly with partners' projects, offering their clients an extensive selection of vetted and profitable investment opportunities.

Through Emlakjet Link, agents can select the best project for investors; submit investor information to facilitate communications and transactions; and earn competitive commissions with each successful sale.

Emlakjet Link is only available to member agents.

Highlights include:

• Revenues of A$413m (USD 272 million), up 21% year-on-year
• EBITDA of A$256 million (USD 155.5 million), up 23% YoY
• Australian Residential business sees revenues grow 23%
• 132.4 million web visits per month for the quarter, while 6.2 million people exclusively use realestate.com.au
• REA India revenues were up 42% YoY

REA Group operates Australia's leading property marketplace, realestate.com.au, and REA India, which includes Housing.com and PropTiger.

As is typical, realestate.com.au delivered the bulk of strong financial performance in the first quarter of the year, with significant growth over Q1 2024:

Realestate.com.au also attracted a shade over 132 million visits per month for the quarter, with the Group saying this number was four times more visits than nearest rival Domain.

Residential revenue in Australia increased 20%, driven by yield and listings growth and an annual 15% price increase

Owen Wilson, CEO at REA Group, said:

"Seller confidence continued to drive a strong listings environment in Q1, delivering greater choice for buyers and some moderation in house price growth. In this healthy market, we hit new audience records and our customers increasingly leveraged the value of our premium products to differentiate their properties. This underpinned the strength of our financial performance.

"In the strong listings environment, Australians turned to our leading platform in record numbers. Our loyal and highly engaged consumers continued to embrace our personalised experiences, widening the audience gap between realestate.com.au and our nearest competitor to a record 5.3 million people. Our unique consumer experiences and the strength of the market supported the increasing value delivered to customers with exceptional year-on-year growth in the number of seller leads."

Meanwhile, REA India’s revenue was up 42% YoY, driven by strong growth in adjacency services on the Housing Edge platform, and continued momentum at Housing.com.

The Group said "Housing.com benefitted from strong events, yield growth and improved monetisation in Tier 2 cities. PropTiger revenues declined reflecting reduced volume of stock and lower commission rates in the strong property market."

Other highlights from the quarter include REA Group's agreement to divest from PropertyGuru, with REA Group's 17.2% stake in the business up for grabs by EQT, which has agreed to wholly acquire the Singapore-based market leader.

"PropertyGuru has stated that the transaction is expected to close in Q2 or Q3 in FY25", commented REA Group.

Meanwhile, REA Group also increased its stake in Athena Home Loans, which it already holds a 19.9% stake in.

REA Group recently failed in a takeover proposal for Rightmove after seeing four bids rejected by the British market leader in September 2024. Shares took a tumble when the market learned of REA's interest in Rightmove, but this was swiftly forgotten and shares have now soared to a record high of A$239.14 (USD 157.58) as of November 11, 2024.

Highlights include:

• Revenues are down year-on-year to A$678,000 (USD 450,000), a 14% decrease from Q1 2024
• RentPay revenues increase to A$172,000 for the quarter, up 70% YoY
• Quarterly RentPay ARPU surpasses $6.50 per month for first time
• RentPay surpasses 10,000 active users after largest-ever quarterly uptake from new customers
• RentPay closes EBITDA losses to A$600,000

Rent.com.au is a publicly listed rental marketplace specialist that operates in a hyper-competitive space where demand far outweighs the supply of rental properties—Australia is a mostly buyer-focused market. The business has struggled to grow meaningfully since 2022, with quarterly revenues mostly flat quarter-to-quarter.

Greg Bader, CEO at Rent.com.au, said:

"Search portal revenue was slightly down compares to previous quarters. We are still seeing a tougher advertising market and have reduced cost in that area while we focus on our key partnerships. We expect the advertising marekt to improve as interest rates start easing again.

"Our search portal cointinues to provide renters with the best search experience in market, as evidenced by out iOS Android apps being the best rates real estate apps, however with fewer people moving through the quarter, demand for our search portal product, and consequently revenue, was affected."

Despite being the market leader for rentals nationwide, Rent.com.au's popular RentPay product—a simple-to-use digital account that gives tenants in Australia more control, flexibility, and choice in how they pay rent—provides the majority of growth over time.

RentPay contributed 25% of total revenues for the quarter, generating A$172,000 in Q1, a 70% YoY increase, while over A$350 million in rental payments have been transacted on the platform.

Active RentPay customers crept above 10,000 for the three months ending 30 September, a 23% quarter-on-quarter increase. Rent.com.au also remarked that the company has a 4,000-strong pipeline of new customers to be onboarded.

Meanwhile, ARPU rose 28% YoY as customers continued to adopt additional payment methods. RentPay is now generating A$6.53 ARPU per month.

Bader said:

"Our best ever quarter of growth for RentPay and reflecting great work by our team to reach this significant milestone.

"Our brand and product awareness continues to improve as we engage with agencies both directly and through major industry conferences. Recent press coverage around payment surcharging only helps strengthen our position further because not only does it make payments topical, but some of the concerns raised regarding overcharging and tenants' right to mandatory free payments methods, play straight into our strengths as the leader in the segment in terms of fairness and choice.

"Our goal is to scale customers as quickly and as efficiently as we can so our sales and marketing activity is focusses on agent partners because this is a faster and more cost-effective channel."

Bader also highlighted that PayPal has recently been added as a payment method on the RentPay platform and that the business has already processed more than A$40,000 in rental payments in the past two weeks.

Bader said:

"We are deliberately driving a shift in the Company's revenue profile towards a more stable, annuity-style income that is not as exposed to seasonal and market variations like the search portal is. 25% of group revenues now come from RentPay's subscription revenues rather than one off transactions. This is almost double the proportion it was just a year ago."

Watch Online Marketplaces' interview with Greg Bader below:

Jason Pellegrino steps down as CEO of Domain

Jason Pellegrino will leave Australia's number two portal Domain within the next six months.

Domain's announcement says Pellegrino will step down as part of a planned leadership transition process, and he will oversee the succession process while a replacement CEO is recruited.

Pellegrino said:

"Now is the appropriate time to initiate this change. In the meantime, I remain committed to the Company and supporting my successor with a smooth transition."

Nick Falloon, Chairman at Domain, said:

"The Board is deeply grateful for Jason’s contribution over the past six years.

"He leaves Domain in a strong financial, operational, and cultural position, underpinned by robust digital infrastructure that enables us to be highly competitive across the entire property ecosystem.

"Jason successfully steered the Company through disruptive periods, not least of which the COVID-19 crisis that profoundly impacted property listings, while substantially improving our organisational culture and creating powerful shared values for Domain’s employees. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours."

AVIV Group appoints new head of Seloger and Meilleurs Agents

Baptiste Capron has been appointed Managing Director for France at AVIV Group, the real estate subsidiary of Axel Springer.

Capron will lead operations in France for the key platforms of the real estate market: SeLoger (SeLoger, SeLoger Neuf, SeLoger Construire, SeLoger bureaux & commerces ), Meilleurs Agents, Logic-Immo, Belles Demeures and Lux Residence.

Baptiste Capron

He will report to Caroline Evans de Gantès, now Chief Commercial Officer of Europe of the AVIV Group.

"I look forward to meeting all of our customers and partners throughout France to support them as best as possible in this new cycle and to continue to develop solutions and sites that meet their needs, whether on the buyer side, seller or tenant," commented Capron [translated from French].

AVIV Group is the real estate subsidiary of Axel Springer, which recently underwent a high-profile split of its media and classifieds businesses.

SeLoger is France's leading real estate marketplace but has faced more than one kind of controversy in the past 12 months.

Oceania: Homely partners with Matterport (among others) in major features launch

The Australian challenger portal Homely has partnered with Matterport to provide its users with a set of new features including virtual tours and interactive media.

other collaborators include Diakrit, Little Hinges, Virtual Tours Creator, Best Virtual Tours, Kuula, Enviz, Captur3D, Open2View and iProperty Express.

The Virtual Tours and Interactive Media suite is designed to empower real estate agents with cutting-edge tools to showcase properties like never before, leading to higher property views, increased engagement, and a notable rise in enquiries since launch.

Adam Spencer, co-founder and co-CEO of Homely, said:

"Our partnerships with innovators like Matterport and Diakrit allow us to provide agents and home seekers with immersive, real-time virtual property experiences.

"This integration enhances the discovery process, helping buyers find their dream homes faster, while also driving more traffic, views, and engagement to our platform, increasing value for our agents."

Homely has a dedicated category visible on its user interface for Interactive Floor Plans offered on listings. This new feature ensures a comprehensive, interactive property search experience that sets listings apart in a competitive market.

One interesting question: is the Matterport partnership being driven by CoStar? And if so, is there a potential buyout in Australia on the cards? One to watch...

Asia: AtHome adds 2-step authentication for property inquiries

Japanese real estate marketplace AtHome.co.jp has added two-step authentication for users making inquiries on its portal.

The portal says it added the process to ensure contacts are correctly recorded for real estate professionals to respond to, citing an ongoing problem in the industry whereby consumers make inquiries about properties but cannot be contacted because they inputted the wrong phone number or email address.

Users making inquiries on smartphones will now need to enter a code sent to their phone number to ensure their contact details are valid.

"This will reduce the number of unsuccessful calls and the workload of real estate companies," said AtHome in its press release.

Rent Now, Pay Later platform Rize launches several AI updates

The Saudi Arabia-based proptech Rize has launched a suite of AI-driven updates.

AI can now accept or reject applications to the company's core 'RNPL' product in less than an hour, based on metrics including earnings, citizenship, and employment status. Other improvements include Rize's app contract management feature, which is now easier than ever for users to track and make payments.

Rize closed a seed round worth almost $3 million earlier this year, as it embarks on a mission to revolutionise Saudi Arabia's difficult rental market whereby tenants are expected to pay an entire year's worth of rent in one fell swoop, or if they're lucky, twice a year.

Rize challenges this model by paying the landlord in full and then subletting properties to tenants, collecting a more traditional 12 payments during the year, and charging the landlord 15% of a contract’s value for this service.

Keyper adds property management features and customizable notifications

Dubai-based property management proptech Keyper has introduced a suite of new features offering an improved property management experience for its landlord users.

New features include a WhatsApp integration with several property management and maintenance options such as repairs, cleaning services and renovations. Landlords can also automate tenancy renewals and property listings via the Keyper app or website.

Additionally, landlords can now customize their notifications from Keyper to only receive alerts for topics they are interested in. Customizations for payment notifications, upcoming contract terminations and renewals, similar property transactions and new onboarded properties are all available on a Yes/No basis.

Europe: WillHaben adds sunlight-mapping technology for all properties

The Austrian market-leading classifieds site WillHaben has integrated sunlight-mapping technology from ShadowMap.

WillHaben users can now access information on sunlight exposure for any property listed on its marketplaces, using ShadowMap to simulate sunlight and shade for any location and at any hour of the day. ShadowMap also simulates annual sunlight exposure.