Antony Catalano’s View Media Group (VMG) has launched property portal view.com.au, with an innovative listings model where sellers can list their homes for free.
The “Freemium” model also provides real estate agents upgrade options to boost their listings and their brand, while buyers can access a complete view of real estate across the country, irrespective of whether a property is for sale or not.
VMG Executive Chairman Antony Catalano said the platform was the exciting culmination of years of hard work since taking an equity position in realestateview.com.au and launching VMG in 2022.
“While VMG is much more than a portal play, it’s critical that we have a consumer-facing brand that will act as the front door to attract consumers and in turn allow us to offer products and services in a range of verticals across the property ecosystem,” Mr Catalano said.
“Our plan is to create a digital real estate superstore under the new View brand that will play in the $300 billion adjacency categories rather than solely focus on the $1 billion of digital property advertising.
“With View, our “Freemium” listings model is a game changer and will allow vendors to list their properties for free, with upgrade options available for those agents who wish to further promote their listings and their brands.
“We’ve listened to the industry and the time is right for an offer to come to market with an alternative model that addresses the real estate industry’s concern at the continually escalating price of advertising.”
Mr Catalano said industry feedback on View had been “overwhelmingly positive” and many were looking to invest in the business.
“There’s no question there is real frustration in the market and something has to give, which is why we have come to market with an alternative that addresses the concerns over price and provides a compelling alternative that allows agents to participate in the adjacency businesses VMG is expanding into,” he said.
The View portal is available via App stores, as well as at view.com.au.
It offers a complete view of the market, with all established properties, which is in excess of 11 million, featured, irrespective of whether they are currently for sale or not.
Mr Catalano said the model enabled buyers to stimulate the market.
“We feel that restricting consumers to only being able to search for those properties that are currently for sale is extremely limiting,” he said.
“It’s like saying that you should only advertise a job vacancy to those that are unemployed.
“Often the best candidate is already employed and we feel the same logic can be applied in the property category and that often the best house for an individual is not currently for sale.
“View allows buyers to look at all properties; listed or unlisted and if a property isn’t currently for sale they will be able to express interest in that property to hopefully stimulate the market and encourage transactions that might not have otherwise occurred.”
View Chief Executive Officer Toby Balazs said the portal had partnered with Nearmap to provide property-seekers with highly functional map-based search.
“The map also enables us to more seamlessly display both listed and unlisted properties all in the one unified experience, so consumers can look to buy, rent, sell or research property in context and on the same platform,” he said.
VMG will support the launch of view.com.au with a fresh brand, positioning and marketing campaign that will launch Saturday, with print wraps across the ACM network, as well as TV commercials during the AFL Grand Final on Channel 7 and 7plus.
“We want to do things a bit differently from what we traditionally see in property marketing,” VMG Chief Marketing Officer Paul Tyrrell said.
“Our positioning is that with View you ‘See All’; a simple and clean representation of the complete view of the market that the new View product delivers.
“Our brand campaign, developed in partnership with The Monkeys in Melbourne, illustrates the extraordinary lengths that some people go to get ahead in the property game, however with View there’s no need to.
“Our aim is to present View as the solution to the problem of the difficulty in finding property that suits you.”
“We want to have a bit of fun with it, so we have played with humour to ensure memorability and cut through while always ensuring the core message out take and product uniqueness is clear, which is critical for any launch.
“Keep an eye out for our Property Eagle.”
View.com.au’s launch comes after Mr Catalano and co-owner Alex Waislitz formed View Media Group in August 2022.
“VMG continues to grow and tick off the key parts of its strategic plan,” Mr Catalano said.
“We are well on the way to forming a global-first conglomerate of proptech assets including portals, ad tech, lead generation, lead management solutions, media planning and buying, AI services, data and connections all under the one roof.”
