THE chief executive of the company that owns realestate.com.au says Australia’s property market is thriving amid anticipation of interest rate cuts.
“I think this is one of the healthiest markets I’ve seen in my time at REA, and it’s because there are a lot of buyers and a lot of sellers,” REA Group CEO Owen Wilson told analysts last week.
“There’s a lot of sellers, that means there’s stock for the buyers to buy, and then they can sell their property,” Mr Wilson said.
“I think that’s what you’re seeing here. I think there’s not a person in the country that thinks a rate rise is coming. It’s just a matter of time of when we get our rate cut.”
Australian listings were up 5 per cent year-on-year in the six months to December 31, with buyer enquiries growing 4 per cent and “inspection interactions” climbing 36 per cent, REA Group said.
The group’s first-half revenue was up 20 per cent to $873 million, with its operating earnings climbing 22 per cent to $535 million.
Its statutory net profit after tax climbed 246 per cent to $441 million, driven by the sale of its 17.2 per cent stake in PropertyGuru, a property listing platform that operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
On a normalised basis, REA Group’s net profit was up 26 per cent to $314 million.
E&P Capital analyst Entcho Raykovski said the results were slightly ahead of consensus expectations, with a solid start to the second half somewhat offset by guidance for higher operating expenses.
In January, property listings were up 3 per cent from a year ago, with listings in Sydney climbing 5 per cent and Melbourne dipping 2 per cent.
“Anecdotally, our market comes back straight after the Australia Day weekend,” Mr Wilson said.
“There’s been a lot of listings come on since then.”
Mr Wilson said he expected listings to slow in April, with Easter and Anzac Day effectively falling on two weekends in a row.
“You don’t want to be selling, particularly doing an auction, because everyone can be on holiday,” he said.
If the Federal Election is held in May, that could also cause some temporary weakness.
The REA chief also announced his retirement after 10 years at the company, including six as CEO. He will remain with the business while a successor is chosen.
