It looks like an entrepreneurial Aussie has registered zillow.com.au, possibly in a bid to grab some of the attention that is heading to America’s zillow.com. Zillow is “an online real estate service dedicated to helping you get an edge in real estate by providing you with valuable tools and information”, with the goal of “helping people make smarter real estate decisions”. It’s a very cool site that must be played with to be appreciated.
Perhaps in response to the popularity in the USA of Zillow, Australian real estate portals are also getting in on the mapping idea. Domain.com.au will have “comprehensive mapping technology” within 12 months (whatever that means), whilst realestate.com.au is also working on a better mapping interface that should be released within the next 6 months. Victorian-based realestateview.com.au is also working on a Zillow-type platform, but won’t say when it will be publicly available. Then there’s Sensis, which is preparing to make it’s Whereis mapping technology available for free to developers to see what sort of Australian mash-ups can be created.
So it looks like map-based searching could become a major part of online real estate research here in Australia over the next 12 months. Will it be just a gimmick, or will it be something that actually assists buyers and sellers?