Property intelligence and marketing heavyweight Domain is set to add to its suite of tools for the housing market with the acquisition of Bidtracker Holdings, a vendor specialising in digital auction and contracts.
Bidtracker’s key business, Real Time Agent, is an Australian point of sale platform that digitises steps in the property sales journey including agency agreements, auctions, and contracts.
The Real Time Agent suite is made up of three different tools, including:
- Real Time Authority - a digital execution of the binding agreement between real estate agents and vendors.
- Bidtracker - a tool for agents to digitally record individual bids and auction results in real-time, giving agencies and franchises instant visibility into their business’ performance.
- Real Time Contracts - a digital sale contract process that calculates settlement dates and deposits that also instantly sends copies of the completed contract to the agent, office, vendor, and purchaser.
The proposed acquisition of Bidtracker Holdings is slated for completion by the end of the year, with an on-target consideration of $24.8 million and an additional cash payment of up to $15.6 million which would be payable on the achievement of defined targets through to the end of FY21.
Domain chief executive and managing director, Jason Pellegrino, said in a notice to the ASX that the Real Time Agent product suite saves agents up to four hours of administration time per transaction, reducing back-office costs and paperwork while improving accuracy and compliance.
“The power of these tools has allowed Real Time Agent to grow to service more than 4000 agent customers, achieve a 98 percent customer retention rate and process over $40 billion in property transactions on the platform, in only three years,” he said.
“Bidtracker alone offers unique real-time insights on live auction activity and property demand.
“This currently covers 60 percent of Victoria’s weekly auctions.”
The platform was founded in 2016 by Angus Ferguson and Daniel Portelli, former real estate professionals who will stay on with the company after its acquisition by Domain.
Portelli, now chief technology officer of Real Time Agent, said that deal with Domain will mean the platform will have access to Domain’s extensive product and technological nous while improving the value of its products to agents with the help of Domain’s consumer insights.
Pellegrino added that the transaction is the next state of Domain’s strategy to “inspire confidence” in making property decisions.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Real Time Agent to the Domain Group. Real Time Agent’s products deliver huge benefits to both agents and consumers, and accelerate our existing strategy of delivering technology that streamlines the online and offline property process.”
