Good news in a tough environment. The REA Group today announced $11.4 million in first half profits, a year on year growth of 47 percent. For the whole year, revenues grew 28 percent to $91.3 million.
Australia was the main force behind the growth which saw a 26 percent year on year increase in revenues.
The other countries in the REA Group only delivered a year on year increase of 9.5 percent. And if you look at just the last 6 months, revenues have actually shrunk by 2.5 percent.
Simon Baker at Property Portal Watch says that the picture at REA, even in Australia, is not all that rosy. While first half 2008 growth was 28 percent, the growth from the first half to the second half of the year was only 8.4 percent. The previous year, that was 19.9 percent.
Tougher times in 2009 will undoubtedly follow and the projection of 50 percent growth this year, as reported earlier by The Australian, seems very unlikely. Baker predicts growth of probably between 20-25 percent.