Australian #1 portal Realestate.com.au has today released traffic figures for March, and they are impressive.
The REA Group flagship portal reported 10.7 million people visiting the site in March which represents a record for the month. This despite all the social distancing restrictions in place in Australia to counteract the COVID-19 outbreak. Clearly, as Group Chief Sales Officer, Kul Singh was quoted as putting it, “Australians remain passionate about property”.
Along with many other global property portals, Realestate.com.au have been turning to technology to adapt to the new reality property hunters in Australia find themselves in. More than 44,000 listings now feature digital tours on the site and their views are reportedly up 96% year on year. The portal's online auctions are also credited with having an “immediate impact, helping connect agents with more buyers, sellers and renters” according to Singh.
Clearly these latest figures from The REA Group buck the global trend. Over 190 C-Level portal and marketplace operators responded to our survey back in March and overwhelmingly said traffic was down for them*. It will interesting to see how local Australian rival portals fare in the coming months and how far the increased traffic trend extends.
The survey results are still available to download for free here: https://docsend.com/view/4acjsch