NationalNEWSSUPPLIER NEWS

Domain Profits Down But Upbeat About Outlook

Releasing their full-year Financial Results last week, Domain Group’s profits have fallen 30 per cent compared to last year, with the property slowdown in its major markets of Sydney and Melbourne hurting the bottom line.

After an ‘extraordinary’ series of events, listing volumes around the country were down 20% to what is a 20-year low.

Sydney and Mebourne in particular have both seen listings fall 26% and 27% respectively in what has weighed on Domain’s earnings.

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Jason Pellegrino believes that while July, in particular, was a seasonally low period, there are signs that the market is starting to turn the corner.

“There are signals of increased buyer activity. It’s too early to call as to when that flows through to increase in seller activity and listings particularly,” Mr Pellegrino said.

“But, it does point to a more positive buyer marketplace to which vendors, we’re hoping at some point in time, will actually react.”

Mr Pellegrino pointed to a series of extraordinary events that have weighed on prices and listing volumes over the last 12 months.

These included three key elections and Easter and Anzac day falling on consecutive weekends, the possibility of removing negative gearing plus the APRA clamps on lending.

“That’s an extraordinary series of events within a 12-month period,” Mr Pellegrino said.

However, Mr Pellegrino was bullish on the fact that the RBA has twice cut rates in recent months taking the official cash rate down to record low levels at 1.0%.

Overall, Domain reported a 29.3 per cent fall in profit to $37.4 million, while revenue was also down 6.1 per cent. Earnings were down 15.3 per cent to $98 million for the financial year in what was Domains first official year as a listed company.

Looking forward, Mr Pellegrino said he was excited about the prospects for Domain, particularly as it gets ready to launch its new Your Domain TV show on September 7th.

Hosted by Shelley Craft and Chris Kohler, and in collaboration with Channel 9, the new show will go to air just in time for the spring selling season.

The new series targeted at the ‘property obsessed’, will include localised property news, lifestyle tips and tricks, Domain Research House market analysis, real-life case studies, and opportunities for sellers to feature their properties.

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Rowan Crosby

Rowan Crosby is a senior journalist at Elite Agent specialising in finance and real estate.