After buying PropTiger, Aurum PropTech to acquire Housing.com from REA. * 17 Jul 2026 Aurum PropTech Ltd has agreed to acquire online real estate platform Housing.com from REA India in an all-stock deal valued at Rs 458 crore ($47.5 million), as the Mumbai-listed proptech company looks to build an integrated real estate technology platform. The acquisition will be executed through the purchase of 100% of Locon Solutions Pvt Ltd, the owner of Housing.com, from REA India. As consideration, Aurum will issue 19.79 million equity shares to REA India through a preferential allotment, it said in a stock-exchange filing. Following the transaction, REA India's stake in Aurum PropTech will rise to 24.9% from 5.54%, making it one of the company's largest shareholders. Housing.com was founded in 2012 by a group of IIT Bombay graduates led by Rahul Yadav. The company raised more than $160 million from investors including SoftBank, Nexus Venture Partners and Helion Venture Partners before a series of management changes and strategic shifts derailed its operations. In 2017, rival PropTiger acquired Housing.com in an all-stock merger that also brought in $55 million of fresh capital from Australia's REA Group and SoftBank. Following the transaction, PropTiger co-founder Dhruv Agarwala took charge of the combined business, while Housing.com and PropTiger continued to operate as separate consumer brands. REA Group, which increased its ownership over the combined business in subsequent years, rebranded Elara Technologies as REA India in 2021 and integrated Housing.com and PropTiger under one umbrella. Aurum acquired PropTiger last year for Rs 86.45 crore in an all-stock deal that gave REA a 5.54% stake in the listed company. Aurum said the acquisition will combine Housing.com's marketplace with its existing proptech ecosystem, enabling it to integrate consumer demand, developer inventory, brokerage, rentals and property transactions on a single AI-powered platform. Housing.com generated Rs 687.5 crore in revenue in the financial year through March 2025, compared with Rs 447.5 crore in FY24. For FY26, it reported unaudited revenue of Rs 309.9 crore. The transaction is expected to close before September 30, 2026, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

REA appoints Katrina Konstas as Kul Singh departs after more than a decade. Katrina Konstas will take the commercial reins from September as long-serving executive Kul Singh exits. REA Group has appointed former Afterpay executive Katrina Konstas as its new Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer, with long-serving leader Kul Singh set to depart the business. Katrina will join REA's Executive Leadership Team from 1 September, taking responsibility for the group's sales, marketing and audience functions as Kul moves to an external opportunity. She joins REA after more than 20 years leading sales and marketing teams, most recently as Country Manager, EVP and Head of Sales, APAC at Afterpay. Prior to that, Katrina held senior sales, business strategy and marketing roles at American Express. REA Group Chief Executive Officer Cameron McIntyre said the appointment followed an extensive executive search. "I am delighted to welcome Katrina to REA Group and I look forward to her impact as we continue to deliver for our customers and consumers," Cameron said. "Katrina has a track record of successfully balancing commercial and customer outcomes at scale in complex regulated environments and I have no doubt her wealth of experience will be invaluable at REA." Katrina will be based in Sydney and will travel regularly to connect with her teams and customers. "I'm thrilled to be joining REA and stepping into such an exciting role at this pivotal time for the industry," Katrina said. "I'm looking forward to meeting with customers in the coming months and better understanding how REA can continue to support them with leading products and services as their trusted partner." Kul is moving to a new opportunity externally and will finish up at REA in August. Cameron said Kul had been "an integral part of this business for over a decade" and had led significant customer and commercial growth. "On behalf of REA, I want to thank him for his leadership, his commitment to our customers and his advocacy for better housing outcomes, and we wish him every success in his next role," Cameron said. "Kul shared his decision with me earlier this year, and I'm grateful we have been able to work together on a thoughtful transition to ensure continuity for our people, customers and partners."

Domain and REA Group both file legal claims over rivals' marketing brags. July 2, 2026 Australia's two biggest portals have entered a legal dispute over their respective marketing claims. Domain has filed a claim against REA Group to the Federal Court, alleging misleading advertising, namely that realestate.com.au finds buyers for nine out of 10 properties listed on its flagship portal, realestate.com.au. Earlier this year, REA Group released findings from its Buyer Impact Model, built on proprietary data, that "realestate.com.au attracts and engages the buyer on 9 in 10 properties listed on the platform that go on to sell. "Realestate.com.au helps 9 in 10 buyers find the One." The company detailed how its AI-powered model, powered by PropTrack, analyses billions of consumer interactions with listings and property pages on realestate.com.au and property.com.au. This data is overlaid with national property sales data to confirm which properties have sold. REA Group excluded around 20% of properties that sold without appearing on a major property portal, and viewing activity on third-party marketplaces and platforms, including Domain. REA added that the findings were independently validated by Deloitte. At the time, Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, Kul Singh, added: "For the first time, agents have measurable evidence to demonstrate to vendors that the sale of their home can be directly linked back to the impact of their realestate.com.au advertising campaign." But rival portal operator Domain alleges "market dominance representation" that is "misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive" - and if REA's claims are true, then Domain must only be capable of providing up to one in ten sales in Australia. Domain argues that it is "likely to suffer loss from a diminution in business" should REA continue to share these claims. The CoStar Group-owned portal demanded corrective advertising messages requiring REA Group to publicly withdraw its previous claims. REA defended itself and shot back with its own counterclaim, suggesting that Domain has misled the market about the success of its own platform. A spokesperson said: "We help nine-in-10 buyers find the one across homes listed and sold on realestate.com.au. The claims are based on analysis of 1 million sales over 28 months, including sales of over two hundred thousand properties claimed and tracked by owners, and over 10 billion consumer data points." "[Meanwhile] Domain has represented that listings with its Matterport Suite product will receive 5.5 times more listing views and 4.2 times more buyer enquiries than comparable listings without Matterport Suite. "These claims are based on a tiny sample of listings that were given disproportionate national exposure across the Domain homepage earlier this year." Harvey Hancock July 17, 2026 Harvey Hancock July 17, 2026 Harvey Hancock July 16, 2026 July 2, 2026 Harvey is an accidental real estate journalist and professional copywriter. He has written about the property industry since 2015, starting at The Property Franchise Group in the UK, before moving to Spain to work for Spotahome. He has worked as a freelance copywriter since 2021, with a special focus on startups real estate. Harvey joined Online Marketplaces as a News Editor in 2022, writing over 2000 news stories and interviewing dozens of high profile industry leaders both in-person and as a co-host of the PPW Podcast. News and analysis to help build better online marketplace businesses, in your inbox, every Friday