REAL ESTATE BUSINESS – AUSTRALIA

Confidence in property hits two-year high

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 12-Jan-17

A survey by the ANZ Bank and the Property Council of Australia has found that confidence in the nation’s residential and commercial property markets has risen to its highest level in two years. The Property Confidence Index has risen by two points to 130 points for the March 2017 quarter, and Western Australia is the only state that has not recorded a rise in confidence. Interest rate expectations over the next 12 months have also risen significantly, particularly nationally and in New South Wales.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

REA spends $70m on passage to India’s vast property market

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Original article by Daniel Palmer
The Australian – Page: 17 : 11-Jan-17

Australian-listed property listings company REA Group will lift its stake in PropTiger to 21 per cent after agreeing to pay $US50m ($A68m) for an additional 14.7 per cent stake in the company. PropTiger is one of India’s largest property listings groups, and its websites include proptiger.com and housing.com. REA, which owns realestate.com.au, recently flagged plans to focus on markets in Australia, Asia and North America.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, PROPTIGER, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

One listing definitely not in White’s plans

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Original article by Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 15 : 9-Jan-17

Ray White Real Estate chairman Brian White has ruled out an IPO. CFO Andrew Jamson says White hopes Australia’s largest real estate firm will remain a family-owned company into the fifth generation. Meanwhile, McGrath Limited’s shares are trading at around $A0.90, compared with an issue price of $A2.10 in late 2015, while founder John McGrath resigned as CEO in August 2016. Another family-owned real estate firm, LJ Hooker, dropped plans for an IPO in 2016.

CORPORATES
RAY WHITE REAL ESTATE, McGRATH LIMITED – ASX MEA, LJ HOOKER (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, LEIGHTON HOLDINGS LIMITED, RAMS HOME LOANS PTY LTD

Domain ads on porn, pirate sites

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 23 & 25 : 12-Dec-16

Data from Nielsen shows that traffic to Domain’s Commercial Real Estate website rose by 382 per cent year-on-year in November 2016. Fairfax-owned Domain has responded to claims that advertisements for CRE are appearing on gambling, pornography and file-sharing websites. The company has stressed that it does not advertise on such sites, but notes that it sometimes uses ad networks that target people who have previously visited the CRE site.

CORPORATES
DOMAIN.COM.AU, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, THE NIELSEN COMPANY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD

Property sentiment strengthens despite negatives

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Original article by Robert Harley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 41 : 13-Oct-16

The ANZ/Property Council Survey of real estate and construction industry sentiment for the third quarter of 2016 shows an improvement of two percentage points in confidence. A net 29 per cent of property and construction executives and investors are optimistic about the prospects for the property sector over the next 12 months, compared with 27 per cent in the previous quarter. An improvement in confidence occurred in all states except Queensland and South Australia.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH

Real estate group retreats on ad rate bargaining

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 21 : 29-Sep-16

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission recently blocked a proposal by Property Media Group to engage in collective bargaining with REA Group and Domain regarding advertising rates for property listings. Property Media Group, which comprises a consortium of 170 real estate agents, has agreed to withdraw its proposal in response to the ACCC’s draft determination in late August. REA Group CEO Tracey Fellows says the listed group supports the ACCC’s ruling.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, DOMAIN.COM.AU, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, PROPERTY MEDIA GROUP, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

REA banks on property snoops to fuel global push

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 21 : 10-Aug-16

Australian-listed REA Group has posted a 2015-16 net profit of $A214m, which is 16 per cent higher than previously. The real estate listings business recorded revenue growth of 20 per cent, to $A629.8m, while EBITDA rose by 22 per cent to $A347.3m. CEO Tracey Fellows expects a plan to combine the property listings of REA’s realestate.com.au with those of Move to boost the group’s revenue.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, MOVE INCORPORATED, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, DOMAIN.COM.AU

Fairfax suffers another $1bn newspaper cut

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 19 : 2-Aug-16

Australian-listed Fairfax Media has announced a $A989m writedown in the value of its publishing assets. This includes a $A484.9m writedown of Metro Media and a $A408.8m writedown of its newspapers in regional and rural areas. Fairfax has also begun reporting the revenue of its Domain property listings business separately from the Metro Media division. However, Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood has downplayed speculation about an IPO for Domain.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, METRO MEDIA PUBLISHING PTY LTD, DOMAIN.COM.AU, NZME LIMITED – ASX NZM, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT

‘Fairfax news business can survive’

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 11-May-16

Fairfax Media CEO Greg Hywood has stressed that the group is still primarily a media company rather than a digital real estate business. He is also confident that Fairfax’s news operations would be able to survive without the revenue contribution of the Domain property division. Fairfax’s revenue from its publishing operations has fallen by six per cent so far in the second half of 2015-16, while Domain’s revenue has grown by nine per cent.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, DOMAIN.COM.AU, THE NEWSPAPER WORKS LIMITED, NEWSMEDIAWORKS, SMI MEDIA INCORPORATED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, APN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED – ASX APN, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD

A numbers game and semantic antics as Realestate and Domain fight over whose app is bigger or better

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-Feb-16

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 1,968,000 Australians aged 14+ have ever downloaded the Realestate.com.au app to one or more mobile devices, and 1,295,000 have downloaded the rival Domain app. The survey, which was carried out in the three months to December 2015, also shows that 30 per cent of those with either app (or 752,000 people) have downloaded both. Meanwhile, 1,414,000 Australians aged 14+ used the Realestate.com.au app in an average four weeks during the December quarter, while 901,000 used the Domain app.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, REALESTATE.COM.AU, DOMAIN.COM.AU