RPData and Realestate.com.au have entered into a strategic alliance, replacing a previous agreement that was set to expire later this year anyway.
Part of the original agreement included the transfer of the property.com.au to realestate.com.au, non compete clauses and the transfer of agents listing data from Realestate.com.au to RPData using a snippet from the Realestate.com.au terms and conditions.
This data feed between the two has been confusing to agents for quite awhile. The sharing of business data that real estate agents have collected from clients according to their specific privacy policies is sent to RPData without any open disclosure from Realestate.com.au and RPData back to the agent. Many agents are oblivious that this actually takes place. In fact very few agents would actually make their clients aware through their own privacy policy that a third part like Realestate.com.au sells their information through a content licensing arrangement to RPData.
In fact for years RPData incorrectly labelled agents photos they received through this information pipeline as their own “copyright”. This often lead to disputes between agents when an office used the RPData copies believing that their monthly subscription gave them the right to use another agents work.
Over the past 6 months there have been rumours that each seen the others market place as potential opportunities. I have actually found this hard to believe given the current market conditions and I personally put it down to negotiation strategy as their current arrangements came closer to an end. Remember that the previous arrangement included non compete clauses and it only makes sense to make the other think you might be considering competing with them. However each are listed public companies that have copped a hammering in the sharemarket recently and the last thing each needs to do is enter into a costly war with each other.
Both RPData and Realestate.com.au are national market leaders in their own market space and this alliance makes just as much sense today as it did when the original agreement was put in place. Only time will tell what the next phase of the relationship will bring but a new website/business seems part of the arrangement. Both need the increased revenue a new venture might bring to counter the effects that the GFC has had on their primary cash cow, the real estate industry.
I reckon we have a joint website/business on the horizon focussing on consumer reports leveraging RPData’s sales records and statistics with Realestate.com.au’s traffic and exposure. Instead of just chasing advertising revenues the two will carve up the “consumer reports” business and split the profits between them.
The new alliance also provides a continuing counterpoint to the relationship with their respective competitors, Domain and Australian Property Monitors.