REA Group has reported strong financial results for the year ended June 30, 2024, with revenue up 23 per cent and net profit climbing 24 per cent year-on-year.
The online listings company released its 2023-2024 financial year results today, highlighting core operations revenue growth of 23 per cent to $1,453 million and an increase in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation), excluding associates, of 27 per cent to $825 million.
The announcement to shareholders also flagged a 24 per cent increase in net profit to $461 million, but reported net profit declined 15 per cent to $303 million, to reflect the impairment of PropertyGuru at December 2023 and other one-off impacts.
REA Group Chief Executive Officer, Owen Wilson, said the results reflected the value the platform delivered at every stage of the property journey.
“In a strong market, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, customers increasingly preferenced our premium products to leverage the strength of our audience and maximise their campaigns,” he said.
“REA India maintained its strong momentum with excellent revenue growth as customers increased usage of our products, and we continued to benefit from investment in our app experience with significant app audience growth.”
Core Australian revenue increased 22 per cent year-on-year, to $1,350 million, or 20 per cent if you exclude the acquisition of CampaignAgent.
Residential revenue rose 24 per cent to $996 million, with buy revenue driven by a 19 per cent increase in Buy yield, a 7 per cent increase in national listings and a modest negative impact from revenue deferral.
Buy yield benefited from a 13 per cent average national price rise, increased Premiere+ and total depth penetration, and a 3 per cent positive impact from geographical mix due to the outperformance of the higher yielding Sydney and Melbourne markets.
Rent revenue increased, with an 8 per cent average price rise and growth in depth penetration, partly offset by a 1 per cent decline in listings.
Commercial and developer revenue increased 12 per cent to $159 million, while media, data and other revenue increased 25 per cent to $122 million (or up 2 per cent excluding the impact of the CampaignAgent acquisition).
Financial services operating revenue rose 8 per cent to $74 million.
REA Group’s flagship site, realestate.com.au, also performed strongly, recording 127.2 million average monthly visits from 10.8 million people each month, on average.
Of those, 5.7 million people exclusively use realestate.com.au.
Other highlights include 3.8 million unique properties being tracked by their owner on realestate.com.au, which is up 37 per cent year-on-year.
Buyer enquiries also jumped 14 per cent year-on-year to a 2.2 million average per month.
Seller leads also increased 37 per cent.
“Our highly personalised consumer experiences drive loyalty and strengthen the quality of our audience across each of our platforms,” Mr Wilson said.
“With a focus on deep member engagement, we extended our realestate.com.au audience leadership to 4.6 million Australians.
“Alongside healthy market conditions, this focus supported robust growth in both seller leads and buyer enquiries, increasing the value we delivered to our customers.”
Other financial year highlights include REA Group acquiring the remaining shares of Realtair for cash consideration of $34 million.
REA India also continued to deliver strong results, with revenue up 31 per cent to $103 million.
REA Group also has a 20 per cent investment in Move, Inc. (Move) which operates realtor.com, a leading property portal in North America.
Move revenue declined 10 per cent in FY24, impacted by the current challenging macroeconomic environment in the US, which has led to a 3 per cent decline in leads and lower transaction volumes.
This was partly offset by revenue growth in Seller, New Homes and Rentals.
Increased marketing investment was largely offset by lower employee costs, resulting in an equity accounted loss of $21 million, compared with a $6 million loss in the prior period.
REA Group also holds a 17.2 per cent stake in PropertyGuru, which operates leading property sites in Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, and is listed on the NYSE.
PropertyGuru core equity accounted contribution was a $1 million loss in FY24, an improvement from the $3 million loss in the prior period, with growth in Singapore offsetting market challenges in Vietnam and Malaysia.
Mr Wilson said the outlook for the property market remained healthy
“Demand is strong nationally, supported by high levels of employment and immigration,” he said.
“Supply is also robust, with sellers confident in the level of demand and properties selling quickly with days on site well below the six-year average.
“Interest rates are expected to stay at current levels until the first half of next calendar year and this stability, coupled with positive market fundamentals, should continue to support confidence.”
