REA Group Ltd Annual Report 2021

REA Group Ltd | Annual Report 2021 14 PRIORITISING CUSTOMER NEEDS Australia’s property sector proved remarkably resilient during FY21, despite the industry facing ongoing restrictions to operating conditions as a result of COVID. Supporting the long-term prosperity of Australia’s property sector Focus on shared objectives Australia’s property sector proved remarkably resilient during FY21, despite the industry facing ongoing restrictions to operating conditions as a result of COVID. REA’s success depends on its customers’ success and the Group continued to prioritise their immediate needs, responding to changing market conditions and offering ongoing support measures throughout the year. This included reduced subscription fees, the ability to re-list and upgrade at no cost, campaign extensions, our Pay on Sale product, regular informative customer webinars and the deferral of price increases. In Victoria, the extended lockdown in the first quarter of FY21 prevented customers from conducting face-to-face inspections or auctions for almost three months. During this time, we saw an increase in consumers accessing Digital Inspections on realestate.com.au, as well as vendors moving to Online Auctions. These features continue to receive excellent uptake and have helped reshape the way people think about property transactions. As Victoria worked its way out of lockdown in September 2020, the Group worked alongside the property industry and the Real Estate Institute of Victoria to successfully lobby the state government for the safe easing of real estate restrictions to align with other comparable low-risk industries. Given the relatively low risk environment, the Group’s CEO, Owen Wilson, publicly urged the state government to reinstate physical property inspections earlier than had been outlined in the recovery roadmap. Pleasingly this date was brought forward by a month, enabling the market to return to more normal conditions sooner than expected. Recognising the benefits of collaboration, in October 2020 REA invited customers to help shape future initiatives through the launch of a new realestate.com.au Property Panel. The online community actively participates in polls, focus groups and discussion forums, which ultimately play a role in influencing REA’s product development pipeline. Advocating for positive change REA strongly believes that everybody deserves a safe place to sleep every night, with our community partnerships focused on addressing the issue of homelessness. In May 2021, REA Group’s CEO took the opportunity to add his voice to this issue externally, stating that social housing is not only good economic policy, but is the right thing to do: “The current economic downturn and subsequent historic low interest rates provide an opportunity for governments to invest heavily in social housing and really transform the lives of the most vulnerable members of our community. The benefits are far-reaching from creating construction sector jobs, providing economic stimulus and reducing homelessness.” The Group also continued to advocate for property tax reform throughout FY21, specifically relating to stamp duty. While the data shows that the revenue generated from stamp duty is significant, it also shows how unreliable it is as a revenue stream. We know that where the number of housing transactions and house prices decrease, it is only natural that revenue from stamp duty will also fall. REA is of the view that stamp duty is a regressive and volatile tax with big fluctuations depending on movement in the market, and will continue to advocate for property tax reform in FY22 and beyond. Year in review