Domain Vs. Real Estate.com.au: Which is better?

[Luckyrooster]

I tried searching and couldn't find anything about this, so thought it could be helpful to lots of people out there:

Over the years I have found some people prefer Domain (owned by Fairfax) and others prefer Realestate.com.au (News Limited majority owned REA Group).

Essentially, both sites roughly do the same thing. To me, almost all listings are duplicated on both sites, so I have come to believe it dosn't really matter which site you seach.

Some people tell me there is stuff listed on Domain, not listed on Realestate.com.au, but is that a myth?

Could the property experts, agents, brokers, etc please chime in and solve this riddle once and more:

Are both sites equal and do most vendors dual list on these sites to avoid losing buyers? Which site do you find better for picking up prices and listings? Can you just use one and avoid the others?

Do all residential real estate agents list on these two sites or is there a trend towards using their own sites to save listing fees?

Thankyou

 

[wylie]

In Queensland it seems realestate.com is the "go to" site but when we listed a house for sale recently, the agent listed it on both. She said that domain picked up buyers from NSW and Vic who may be looking for a move to Queensland and they tend to use domain.

I've never looked on domain. I always use re.com.

Maybe that is slowly changing...

 

[Luckyrooster]

To be fair, Domain came to the table quite late, a few years after realestate.com.au virtually dominated the field early in the dot come game.

It's a heck of a duopoly if I ever saw one..kinda Pepsi/Coke.

 

[livewildcard]

According to my figures for search engine traffic through google for AU these are the search engine traffic for each

Domain RE
Oct 1,212,000 2,540,000
Nov 1,071,000 2,507,000
Dec 1,087,000 2,377,000
Jan 1,021,000 2,380,000
Feb 1,013,000 2,532,000
March 971,000 2,506,000

 

[Brady]

I will use RE day2day and when I'm having a long look on some weekends I will use both.

 

[Jacque]

Domain is apparently more dominant here in NSW however most good agents will list on both. Believe it or not, there are smaller agencies that only list on Domain (odd) and other bigger players who elect not to list on Domain. Go figure- if I was selling I'd want to be on both absolutely.

I find both sites relatively easy to use however Domain crashes less and is more user-friendly for those of us who use its features on a regular basis.

 

[datto]

realestate.com is better for me. I shows you how many times a property has been viewed.

 

[Propertunity]

Believe it or not, there are smaller agencies that only list on Domain (odd)

I see this too. I think it must be cheaper to advertise on domain

 

[HD_ACE]

I prefer realestate.
But there in realestateinvestar which provides a list from all sites when you search your criteria. All sorts of criteria you can search aswell.
But there is a membership fee.

Cheers

 

[Kevin Hockey]

Forget hits or any other stats. Different portals perform better in diff states. In Qld Domain has tried but can't get anywhere near re.com.au. Agents receive approx 5 enquiries from Domain to 100 from re.com.au.

In Victoria Domain performs much stronger. ACT it is allhomes.com.au. In WA rewia.com.au dominates.

Qld agents don't really get interstate enquiry from Domain, it's just their sales spiel.

The closest anyone got to re.com.au was property.com.au and so re.com.au bought it out. No one can or will get close to it now, it owns that market, they can't be beaten. Even Packer tried and couldn't do it.

First to market wins

 

[Chris B]

I see this too. I think it must be cheaper to advertise on domain

It is considerably cheaper to list on Domain but in most areas they get much less enquiry. Most agents I know will list on both but some agents are definitely getting sick of the REA monopoly as they keep increasing their fees. Also Domain allows privates vendors to list which REA doesn't, so as a buyer it is worth looking on both sites and as a vendor you should expect to be on both unless you are paying for a discount service.

 

[SB25]

It also has to do with who owns the dominant newspaper with the most RE content in the market. In QLD it's the Courier Mail, hence REA is most popular. In NSW & Vic it's moreso the Fairfax papers.

This is why Domain has never really taken off in QLD, but if you're trying to reach buyers in NSW & Vic for a QLD asset it's worthwhile advertising on Domain as well.

Can anyone tell me which one is used most in Adelaide please? REA seems to not have a huge depth of listings.

 

[Scott No Mates]

The main differences I have found is that Domain will allow casual advertisers vs re.com won't take adverts from non-account agents. Also domain has a basic account (lower cost model) vs re.com which only runs a full service account.

As for effectiveness, it depends upon the market ie in Sydney some areas are stronger traditionally with the tabloid papers hence a stronger re.com following vs areas which prefer the SMH/domain.

There are only so many cashed up buyers at any one time looking and if they are doing their due diigence, they will seek out all avenues so will check out both websites and cull out the duplicate adverts - so why advertise on both sites other than to increase your own costs.

 

[wylie]

Qld agents don't really get interstate enquiry from Domain, it's just their sales spiel.

This is why Domain has never really taken off in QLD, but if you're trying to reach buyers in NSW & Vic for a QLD asset it's worthwhile advertising on Domain as well.

We had two enquiries from southern states, so I think there is a good reason for putting it on both sites, especially the price bracket of the house we had for sale.

Until this listing, we'd never even been asked if we wanted to go on Domain.

 

[santaslayer]

I find Domain to be faster and easier to navigate.
I don't like RE's format but find that they can sometimes have more properties listed.
At the end of the day I check both.

 

[SRB]

In Qld I find a lot more properties go onto realestate.com but the best feature of domain is that when you search latest listings it also brings up updated listings which often is a price reduction.

 

[Xjas]

I like how on Domain you can select an area (or multiple areas) and then look at the new listings for that day, I haven't been able to figure out how to do that on RE.com.

 

[Big Will]

I work as a REA and Domain is cheaper than re.com.

Domain is stronger in mobile devices (about 80% of the viewers from domain come from their app/mobile site and 20% from desktop). This is from a random report from Domain;

website - 21% (Computer)

mobile site - 4% (Safari on the iphone)

smart phone - 32% (iphone app)

tablets - 43% (ipad app)

Enquires here in Victoria would be maybe 50/50 there isn't any clear winner but at the same time a vendor cannot afford to miss out on a buyer who prefers domain or re.com over the other.

 

[Roosterman]

One "feature" of Domain that annoys me no end is how you filter properties for viewing. If you want to view 2 bedroom properties, the only option you can select for bedrooms is " 2 or more" which obviously returns you results with 2,3,4,5 bedrooms. It's a bit silly

 

[liamaust]

What other features annoy you about the sites? Or maybe you have a favourite feature?
Personally the ability to select multiple suburbs with a radius and then remove certain suburbs is great