The Australian real estate industry may be catching on to US trends with a potential online exchange in the pipeline that could create a one-stop shop for the average Aussie house hunter.
Whilst the US may have set the precedent, realestate.com.au's CEO Kevin Jamieson claims Aussie punters are driving the establishment of a local online real estate exchange.
"Consumers are clearly demanding they want one site to dominate," Jamieson told ZDNet Australia.
Statistics from Internet monitoring group hitwise.com.au lend support to this claim, with realestate.com.au proving to be the most popular online destination for house hunters. Thirty-five percent of traffic head in its direction.
"We're the clear leader in terms of traffic," Jamieson said, however, he added that the online sector is "too crowded" with a number of conglomerated sites touting for business.
"The consumer would be much better served if there was some sort of rationalisation of the online sector," Jamieson said.
Sparring ahead of competition, realestate.com.au announced today that joint venture discussions are underway with domain.com.au.
Until now, the industry has been "no closer to providing a common site for the user," Jamieson said.
Although discussions are under a 21-day exclusivity period between the two online agents, other interested groups may be invited to join the party.
Consolidation will mean that one site can "offer the consumer double or triple the amount of [current] listings," Jamieson said.
