Realestate.com.au today announced its results for the first half-year ended December 31, 2020, delivering a strong performance despite volatile market conditions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
REA Group reported revenue of $430.4 million, a 2 per cent decrease year on year and EBITDA of $290.2 million, up 9 per cent on the period last year, with operating expenses down 13 per cent to $145.8 million.
REA investors were paid an interim dividend of 59 cents a share, up 7 per cent, with earnings per share of 130.7 cents, representing an increase of 13 per cent.
The group said the residential property market had displayed continued signs of recovery, with national residential listings up by 4 per cent for the half, including a 19 per cent increase in Sydney listings.
Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdown measures caused significant short-term weakness, with listings declining 44 per cent in the first quarter before rebounding when restrictions lifted, resulting in an overall 11 per cent drop in listings for the half.
REA Group CEO Owen Wilson described the first-half results as remarkable considering the current climate and said the market had shown signs of a strong recovery in November and December.
“This was fuelled by the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, combined with increasing consumer confidence, record low interest rates and healthy bank liquidity,” Mr Wilson said.
“Our flagship site realestate.com.au delivered a standout performance for the half. In November we set a new record of 13 million people, or 65 per cent of Australia’s adult population on our site.”
REA Group has also announced new partnerships, joining forces with property technology platform Realtair to bring a new suite of integrated products and services to market to help the process of attracting, nurturing and converting seller leads.
Realtair founder and CEO Peter Matthews said the company was thrilled to be working with REA to increase efficiencies for agents and improve the vendor experience through the use of its technology.
The group will also partner with CampaignAgent, a buy-now-pay-later provider VPAPay for vendor paid advertising.
CampaignAgent’s VPAPay technology provides real estate agents with the ability to seamlessly sign up vendors to advertising funding options from their smart device or laptop
Mr Wilson said the pace at which the industry had been turning to digital solutions since the emergence of COVID-19 had placed REA in a prime position to connect more customers with property owners and increase its listings.
“These offerings will enable our agency customers to create personalised market updates, customisable digital listing presentations and provide the opportunity to offer digital authorities right through to the exchange of property contracts.”
