REA launches new home buyer insights hub

REA Group has launched a new residential buyer demand index, REA Insights Weekly Demand Index, as part of the group’s dedicated data and insights offering. 

The new index is designed to help consumers assess trends in the property market to determine their next steps.

The index leverages on-site consumer activity to monitor the behavior of committed buyers, including the number of visits to a listing, looking at the photos for a listing multiple times, saving the property, sharing the property and/or making an enquiry with agents.

Cameron Kusher, director of economic research at REA Group, explained: “As the recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 continue, this forward-looking index shows the buyers are back, but sellers are yet to follow.

“The current undersupply of properties has resulted in demand surging on realestate.com.au. Serious buyer activity has now increased for the past nine weeks and is up 100.8 per cent from its low.

“One of the likely drivers of such high volumes of serious buyer activity is the fact that there are so few properties listed for sale. With less stock, serious buyers narrow their focus much more and are likely to be more highly engaged with the listings on-site.”

According to REA, the index also provides an indication of the level of buyer demand prospective property sellers can expect when they list a home, while providing buyers with an idea of the amount of competition they’re likely to face for a property.

REA Group’s chief audience and marketing officer, Melina Cruickshank, added: “We’re committed to becoming Australia’s number one property data powerhouse through the delivery of market insights in the form of regular search, demand and pricing reports.”

[Related: Plunge in property prices now ‘unlikely’]