REA Beats Dividend Expectations as Annual Profit Rises 14% — Update

By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--REA Group increased its final dividend by more than analysts had anticipated after stronger-than-expected June-quarter listings volumes helped the Australian real-estate advertiser lift annual profit by 14%.

News Corp-controlled REA on Thursday said new residential buy listings for the fourth quarter of its 2026 fiscal year jumped 11% on-year.

Some analysts and investors had feared that factors including three recent interest-rate rises and May's announcement of government changes to property-related tax concessions could immediately hit listings volumes.

"Despite proposed federal taxation changes, global events and interest-rate increases affecting overall sentiment, vendors continued to bring their properties to market," REA Chief Executive Cameron McIntyre said.

The strong finish to the year helped REA report an underlying core-operations net profit for the 12 months through June of 682.1 million Australian dollars, equivalent to US$481.4 million.

That stripped out items including the effects of last month's decision to sell its India operation. An impairment of A$111 million against REA India contributed to a 19% fall in statutory net profit, to A$551.6 million.

REA lifted its dividend to A$1.73 a share, from A$1.38 a year earlier. That compared with an average analyst forecast of A$1.62, according to data compiled by Visible Alpha.

Revenue rose 7.2%, to A$1.79 billion, while operating expenses were flat. In Australia, which generates the vast bulk of REA's income, revenue rose 11% on year and operating expenses rose by 7%.

New residential buy listings were flat across the full fiscal year. REA said it expects volumes for its current fiscal year, which began July 1, to be flat or fall by a percentage in the low single digits.

Some analysts have suggested that property investors will offload assets before changes to capital gains tax come into force next year. This could give REA a near-term bump in listings growth that would prove difficult to sustain.

REA said it would target further margin expansion in fiscal 2027, and that any drop in buyer interest due to central-bank rate rises and stubbornly high inflation should fuel seller demand for products that elevate the visibility of their property.

REA said that so-called buy yield--a key measure of ad profitability--rose 13% in fiscal 2026. It expects fiscal 2027 controllable yield growth in the low-double digits, helped by price rises and the uptake of add-on products.

News Corp is the parent company of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 05, 2026 20:12 ET (00:12 GMT)