Property sites link up as Tasman force

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

A threatened $200,000 lawsuit against property website RealENZ has not deterred Australia's realestate.com.au from joining the company in a bid to create Australasia's largest internet property directory.

Yesterday both parties signed an equity swap deal in which each company will acquire a minority interest in the other.

RealENZ's owners, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) and Auckland-based Multiple Listing Bureau (MLB) have each surrendered a third of their shareholding to realestate.com.au through their respective operating companies Member Services and Realtor Services.

Realestate.com.au has acquired a one-third stake in RealENZ in return for $A1.27 million, to be paid as about one million of its shares with the balance in cash.

An Auckland-based lawyer, who did not wish to be named, representing "a substantial real estate company with 8 to 10 branches in the North Island" told the Business Herald his client was seeking $200,000 in compensation from RealENZ.

According to the lawyer, the claim related to costs his client incurred in rectifying faults in RealENZ's software system.

David McLeish of RealENZ said the matter was an isolated incident and the company was considering its position.

Realestate.com.au, which listed on the Australian stock exchange last December, is controlled by Macquarie Bank which has a 52 per cent shareholding, and media company NineMSN holds a 10 per cent stake.

RealENZ chairman Peter Cook said the partnership would "develop the major property gateway for Australasia" and he expected RealENZ would benefit from the financial and technical skills of realeastate.com.au's owners.

"In Macquarie Bank we have a merchant bank with a very good empathy with real estate and with NineMSN we believe we are positioning ourselves for digital television and other future technologies."

Realestate.com.au chief executive Kevin Jamieson said "many synergies" between the companies would help his company to compete in the "very crowded" Australian market. Despite being placed as the most popular property website in Australia (by ranking site Top100.com.au) Mr Jamieson admitted that his company was in a less dominant position than RealENZ against competitors such as property.com.au and Fairfax-owned domain.com.au.

RealENZ, set up in 1996, carries more than 40,000 property listings and its website attracts around 76,000 visitors a week.

RealENZ estimates the site is used by around 60 per cent of the country's 1400 active real estate agents.

According to a survey RealENZ conducted in the middle of last year the site accounts for 4 per cent of all property sold through agents.

Realestate.com.au has 2200 real estate agents registered out of a total of 9000 in Australia and 60,000 properties are listed.

Related links


Realestate.com.au
Top100.com.au
Property.com.au
domain.com.au