SYDNEY--Shares in REA Group were on course for their largest one-day gain in four years after the Australian real-estate advertiser lifted September-quarter revenue and reiterated its full-year outlook despite a challenging housing market.
News Corp-controlled REA on Thursday reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of 450 million Australian dollars, equivalent to US$315.3 million. That was up 11% on a year earlier, or 8% once the impact of recent acquisitions was stripped out.
National property listings fell 2%, but the classifieds group said price increases and additional products helped lift buy yield by 8%. Meanwhile, operating expenses excluding mergers and acquisitions rose 2%.
Although October listings fell 13% from a year earlier, REA said it still expects volumes to decline by a percentage in the low single digits across the whole of its current fiscal year, which runs through June 2027.
The company also maintained its full-year operating margin, buy yield and cost targets.
REA shares were up 9.25% at A$176.87 midway through Thursday's session, putting them on track for their largest daily gain since November 2022, when markets and economies were recovering from the impact of Covid-19 and restrictions imposed to slow the pandemic.
The stock hasn't closed above that level since August.
Some analysts had been cautious about listing volumes due to the recent interest-rate increases and impending changes to property-related tax concessions, which have weighed on home prices and turnover.
The Reserve Bank of Australia this week raised its benchmark cash rate for the fifth time in 2026, lifting it to an 18-year-high of 4.85% in an effort to tame inflation.
News Corp is the parent company of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.
