OneRoof reaches biggest audience ever in September

The housing market enjoyed a record September, despite forecasts at the start of the Covid crisis that prices would drop. Photo / File

In New Zealand real estate's biggest month for sales and listings, OneRoof.co.nz outpaced its rivals, with record numbers of Kiwis turning to the property site for listings and information.

OneRoof grew 44 per cent in September and reached its biggest audience ever, according to the latest Nielsen figures.

The month on month increase was significantly higher than other real estate listing sites, including Trade Me Property, whose audience was up 5 per cent.

OneRoof general manager Vikas Verma said: "For six months of 2020, OneRoof has been the second most visited property site and these new Nielsen figures show that it is continuing to grow and is closing the gap with Trade Me Property.

"OneRoof already has more Auckland houses for sale than Trade Me Property so it is heartening to see more and more Kiwis recognise that OneRoof is essential to their property search."

Bayleys Remuera agents Gary and Vicki Wallace said of the latest audience results: "We believe [OneRoof] is fast becoming (if not already) New Zealand's leading real estate website. The quality of enquiry we receive for our properties on OneRoof is simply outstanding."

The figures come as the housing market enjoyed a record September, despite forecasts at the start of the Covid crisis that prices would drop.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand announced that the number of residential properties sold last month across New Zealand was up 37.1 per cent on September 2019 - from 6112 to 8377 – the highest number of properties sold in a single month since March 2017 and the highest number of properties sold in a September month for 14 years.

Auckland house sales for September were their highest in 52 months and saw the highest annual increase in sales volumes in 11 years.

Owen Vaughan, OneRoof editor, said the residential property market has gone from ice cold to red hot in a very short space of time.

"Not only has the market defied expectations of a crash, it has exceeded even the most hopeful predictions.

"Kiwis are looking to buy and sell in numbers not seen since the last boom - and they are turning to OneRoof to carry out their searches and keep up to date with the latest developments.

"Buyers and sellers know that information is crucial if they are to stay ahead in a rapidly changing market and OneRoof is home to an array of experts that help interpret what is happening."

OneRoof has been warmly received by the real estate industry since its launch in 2018.

Harcourts Cooper and Co agent Kris Cunningham said: "The site provides awesome search functionality that is unavailable elsewhere. Combined with their social media and data integration they are definitely onto a winning combination that is working great for our vendors."

Ray White Austar Realty business owner Craig Smith said that OneRoof had been an excellent source of buyer enquiry for his agents. "There is no doubt that we have had the biggest captive audience in terms of viewer numbers ever experienced and have received a lot of enquires from future buyers."

Barfoot & Thompson agent Matt O'Rourke said: "We've used the OneRoof digital platform since the outset and found both the engagement level and quality of enquiry very good."