Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 10th July 2008
Global property group to launch overseas
REA Group, which has interests in more than 10 property portals across the globe, is planning to launch a dedicated overseas site later this year.
The new site will run off a central database system and agents already listing on other REA Group portals, like
Propertyfinder.com,
Hotproperty.co.uk and
realestate.com.au will benefit from additional traffic at no extra cost. A dedicated commercial team, led by Damian Medhurst, has been set up to recruit overseas agents and developers to the site. The pricing structure will be “extremely competitive” and is likely to be tailored regionally to reflect market conditions. The focus, according to Medhurst, is “building content and long-term value in terms of lead generation rather than maximising price”.
Marketing firepower
With the acquisition this week of
UKPropertyShop, average monthly visitor numbers for the whole group “are fast approaching 10 million”, according to CEO Simon Baker. The new overseas site will link prominently from their existing portals, which also include Italian portal
Casa.it, Dubai-based
Propertyfinder.ae, New Zealand portal
allrealestate.co.nz and a large number of European portals operating under the
Athome brand.
Although the brand name for the new site has yet to be agreed, it will leverage all the marketing and technological resources of the network. It will also have “a significant budget allocated to online marketing such as SEO and SEM”, according to Medhurst.
World domination
When you meet
Simon Baker you get the feeling he’d be probably be quite good at
Risk (the board game). His mission is “to have the best possible coverage [of potential property buyers] on a global basis”. REA Group is cash rich and has demonstrated they are willing to buy property portals with significant traffic to further their ambitions. Expect further consolidation in the property portal market.
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