By offering vendors free property listings and showcasing around 11 million Australian properties, whether they’re for sale or not, recently relaunched real estate listings portal [and app] View.com.au expects to give competitors, like realestate.com.au and Domain a run for their money.
Aiming to provide customers with a complete view of the market, View.com.au (aka realestateview.com.au) has been brought to market by ANZ and Seven West Media-backed View Media Group (VMG) under what’s called a ‘Freemium’ listings model.
This means that while the basic service is free, upgrade options are available to agents wishing to further promote their listing or brand.
Head-to-head with Domain
View Group’s executive chairman and former Domain CEO Antony Catalano (pictured) expects View.com.au’s alternative model – which allows buyers to view all properties, regardless of availability – to help combat the real estate sector’s concern over the spirally cost of advertising.
By allowing users of the service to express interest in unlisted property, Catalano expects to “stimulate the market and encourage transactions that might not have otherwise occurred”.
Catalano also notes that compared to View.com.au, some of the other portals only feature around 140,000 properties for sale. Having recently upgraded View.com.au with greater functionality, he expects to replace Nine Entertainment’s Domain as the number two provider of real estate classifieds.
“We think we can eventually become the No.2 portal in the country and we will do that with the differentiation we have in our model, the free or low-price model that is very inexpensive to the others,” said Catalano.
Map-based searching
In addition to securing a deal with data business CoreLogic, the portal has partnered with listed aerial technology company, NearMap (ASX: NEA) to provide map-based searching of properties and suburbs.
“Giving property seekers the ability to see Australia’s property market with incredible resolution, recency and coverage, with up to 95% of the population captured is truly a game changer,” according to Nearmap’s Vlad Gagovic.
Unlike other property websites that default customers to a list view, View Group’s CEO officer Toby Balazs believes the additional benefits of the map include seamless displays of listed and unlisted properties all in one unified experience.
“Consumers can look to buy, rent, sell, or research property in context and on the same platform,” said Balazs.
Launched over the grand final weekend, the initial media campaign is expected to run until early December across Channel 7, 7plus, Australian Community Media and QMS digital assets.
