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While many of the headlines in 2024 focused on the fierce battle between Realtor.com and CoStar, CEO Damian Eales said he was particularly concerned about the growing housing shortage threatening the livelihoods of millions of real estate agents. He said the competition is at the bottom of his priorities.
Damian Eales |Credit: AJ Canaria Creative Services
“On Election Day last November, we ran ads in some of the country’s major newspapers to celebrate our future leaders who were elected overnight,” he said Wednesday on Inman Connect New York. told the audience. “But we are setting them a challenge. We invite you, in your new responsible roles, to face the real challenges of our time: housing affordability.”The previous administration said the commission This focus has made real estate agents the villains of housing affordability. ”
“And even if they only cut fees by, say, one percentage point, which was probably their goal, that becomes trivial in relation to the real issue of housing supply. “Deaf,” he added. “So what we’re going to see over the next year is that America is 7.2 million homes short, and the situation is getting worse every year because we haven’t built enough inventory to deal with the supply. There will be a real focus on shining a light on the issues that are happening.”
Mr Eales said tackling housing supply constraints was a “win-win” for agents and consumers. However, the industry needs to better communicate with consumers and decision makers about policies that will significantly increase housing starts and slow home price growth to more sustainable levels.
“Outside of the bubble, with all the community leaders that the people in this room have influence over, and certainly who they can influence as Realtor.com, and who they can influence as News Corp. “I wish we had spent more time talking about what could be done,” he said. “[We need] Start challenging politicians to cut red tape, free up land, and address problems. [the ‘Not in My Backyard’ movement] And by building more homes, we will be more successful as an industry, but more importantly, society will also be more successful as a result. ”
Eales said Realtor.com is the leading publisher of consumer real estate news in the U.S. Through the portal’s journalism division, Realtor.com lobbies for progressive housing policies and objectively educates consumers about those policies. He said he is committed to doing so.
“Ten years ago, when News Corp bought Realtor.com, Realtor.com didn’t have any journalists. Today, we have a lot of journalists,” he said. “We are the number one portal for consumer real estate news. And in fact, when you add up all the real estate articles published across News Corp, including Realtor.com, we are the number one portal for consumer real estate news in the country. Become a publisher.”
The CEO said the brand’s focus on producing housing advocacy and consumer news does not detract from the company’s larger goal of reclaiming its position as the industry’s number one portal. Rather, he said, it will be in the best position to connect with consumers and build trust, making it a key piece of the puzzle to attracting a larger share of real estate agents back to the Realtor.com platform. .
“If you’re serious about taking on Zillow, you have to challenge yourself. We’re the most trusted brand by consumers in this country. We want to be the number one, largest portal in this country. I think so,” he said. “It’s going to take time to get there. And if we’re going to do that, we’ve got to be a better alternative for consumers. We’ve got to grow our audience. And I We have to become a better choice for our customers.”
Following the lead of its competitors, Eales said improvements to the Realtor.com platform will definitely include leveraging artificial intelligence to make it better for home buyers, home sellers and agents. He said it would be. The company’s tech team has already overhauled the site’s search functionality using AI, making it easier for consumers to find their favorite listings using natural language and color-coded maps. I did.
“Using artificial intelligence, we can create completely different search experiences for each consumer. Imagine visiting the Realtor.com app. My experience is completely different than yours. “Not only do we know your past actions, we know your past actions with all the brands that News Corp has across North America,” he said. “If you’re a customer of the Wall Street Journal, you’re probably going to have a different experience than, say, a customer of the New York Post.”
Eales said that on the agent side, Realtor.com is deploying AI to improve productivity and maximize results from Realtor.com’s portfolio of lead generation products.
“For example, we partner with companies like Ylopo to vet leads, ensure they have high value, and nurture leads to reduce agent burden and increase lead productivity. “This is their role,” he said. “I think there will be significant advances in AI’s ability to help train agents to distinguish between good agent performance and bad agent performance, and we will be at the forefront of that development.”
As for what 2025 holds, Eales said it is ready for the next wave of competition as AI and market headwinds challenge increasing the portal’s value proposition.
“We love competing at Realtor.com. We believe it is our role to be better for our customers and consumers by competing very aggressively, and last year we “It was a very aggressive competitive field,” he said. “But despite all the investments that CoStar has made in the industry, I’d like to think we dodged it…and today we’re very focused on Zillow.”
“They are to be admired in many ways, but they are a very consumer-centric organization. Every speech I’ve ever heard from a company representative starts with the consumer first and foremost.” he added. “It’s not that the consumer isn’t important, but I think we spend a lot of time talking to consumers and worrying about the consumer experience. But I think we’re a different company. You know, we say we’re developing for the industry.”
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