Deep-diving into the nature, behaviour and needs of Australian property sellers

Finding the ‘Who’ and the ‘Why’ in REA’s seller cohort

In the midst of the property shifts occurring against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, REA wanted to work to understand more about the motivations, experiences and on-the-ground needs of home-sellers across Australia. While they already had some information about people selling homes—which lent some insight into how sellers tend to interact with existing REA products and services—there wasn’t much first-hand detail about who they are, what they experience when selling, what would help them in their property journey, and what they think about in making decisions.

Qualitative Research

We designed and facilitated 20 deep-dive, semi-structured qualitative interviews with people who were selling a home or had recently sold and purchased homes. We sought an even split between people who had experience selling a home and those who were selling for the first time to get a fuller picture. Our questions focused primarily on the factors that enable and inhibit momentum in the home-selling and buying journey. We also asked people what they knew and felt about REA and competitor products and services.

Selling Journeys and Pain Points

From our interviews, we created rich journey maps to illustrate the everyday experiences of people selling homes in Australia and synthesised their key pain points and needs. We delivered a strong understanding of how home sellers view the relationship between buying and selling their homes, and we learned a lot about the pace of different stages in the process.

We identified that similarities between first-time and more experienced home sellers and differences in their journeys tended to be based on how much knowledge they entered the process with. We also discovered that COVID-19 and climate change are both having significant impacts on consumer decision-making and discovered a lot of opportunities for REA Group to improve on the seller experience around the provision of context-specific advice.

Meet Neil, Edward, Rachel and Nicole

We rounded off our research efforts by creating realistic home-seller behavioural archetypes with names and personality traits. First, we identified key drivers of behavioural differences in home sellers and then grouped common sets of drivers to distil meaningful archetypes. Each archetype encompassed key insights, opportunities, and pain points derived directly from our research and presented evidence-based implications for REA Group to consider.

We helped REA understand which consumers are looking for detailed market-level data that empowers them to confidently take control of their selling journey and who are seeking more guidance. We also identified what kind of guidance they want and when they would most value it in the selling journey.

With a clearer understanding of these diverse needs, we presented new opportunities for REA to enhance its offering for each of the four home-seller types in the Australian market.