What Urban.com.au does

Urban.com.au is an Australian online real estate marketplace focused exclusively on new and off-the-plan apartments and townhouses. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Richmond, Victoria, the platform aggregates new property developments across eight major Australian metros — Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, and Geelong — spanning six states and territories. Its stated value proposition is pre-market visibility: tracking every new apartment and townhouse in Australia from day one so buyers can find projects before they appear on incumbent portals. Users discover developments through a self-serve web platform and subscribe to email alerts for new releases and real estate news.

The platform's product surface comprises four core offerings: new apartment listings, new townhouse listings, a developments directory organised by city, and editorial real estate news and buyer guides. Distribution is product-led and direct-to-consumer, relying on the web platform and email newsletter as the primary acquisition and retention channels. The company operates with a small team (11-50 employees) and currently monetises through developer and agent listing fees and advertising, with publicly stated intent to transition toward a transactional model that would enable property transactions to occur directly on the platform. In September 2022, CarSales.com.au founder Steve Kloss invested A$1 million and joined the board to help execute that pivot, explicitly positioning Urban.com.au to compete with REA Group and Domain. In March 2024, the company acquired Homeshelf for an undisclosed amount, signalling active consolidation in the new-construction property discovery niche. No underlying technology stack, AI/ML capabilities, or proprietary algorithms are disclosed in the available data.

Name

Urban.com.au

Website

https://urban.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Urban.com.au is an Australian online marketplace dedicated to new and off-the-plan apartments and townhouses, tracking developments from launch across eight major cities and serving self-serve property buyers, investors, developers, and agents.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Richmond

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Platform Services: Urban.com.au is transitioning from an advertising-only platform to a transactional model, enabling property transactions directly through the platform rather than just listing services.
2. Listing/Advertising: Developer listings and advertising for new property developments, with agents and developers paying for visibility on the platform.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Urban.com.au is an Australian online marketplace that aggregates and tracks every new apartment and townhouse development across eight major cities, providing property seekers with early visibility into off-the-plan stock. Developers and agents pay for listings and advertising on the platform, and the company is transitioning to enable property transactions directly through the marketplace. The platform combines a property listings directory, a developments tracking database, and editorial real estate news delivered via email newsletter.

Product overview

Urban.com.au is a real estate platform focused on new and off-the-plan apartments and townhouses for sale in Australia. The platform operates as a single unified product offering property listings, a developments directory, and real estate news content. Users can search for properties across eight Australian cities (Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, and Geelong) through dedicated apartment and townhouse listing sections. The platform also provides email newsletter subscriptions for new development alerts and real estate news delivery. According to news reports, Urban.com.au is transitioning from an advertising platform to a transactional one, competing with major players like REA Group and Domain.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• New Apartment Listings Property listings for newly constructed and off-the-plan apartments available for sale across major Australian cities including Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, and Geelong, targeted at home buyers and investors.
• New Townhouse Listings Property listings for newly constructed townhouses available for sale across major Australian cities including Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, and Geelong, targeted at home buyers and investors.
• Developments Directory Comprehensive directory of new property developments tracked from day one, allowing users to explore new apartment and townhouse developments by city across Australia.
• Real Estate News & Guides Editorial content including news articles and guides about real estate and off-the-plan properties, delivered to subscribers via email newsletters.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Homely: Homely is an Australian property search platform that aggregates listings and competes for the same buyer audience seeking new and existing properties. Its broader listings scope makes it a direct comparator on traffic and developer coverage.
• REA Group: REA Group operates realestate.com.au, Australia's dominant property marketplace. It is Urban's primary direct competitor across residential listings, with substantially larger traffic, developer relationships, and capital—explicitly named by Urban as a competitor it aims to challenge in off-the-plan.
• Domain Holdings: Domain Group is Australia's second-largest residential property portal. Like REA, it competes for the same off-the-plan developer marketing budgets and buyer traffic that Urban targets, and is the second incumbent Urban explicitly benchmarks against.

Broad incumbents

• Zillow Group: Zillow is the largest US residential real estate marketplace. While US-focused, its marketplace model, new-construction vertical, and Zillow Homes services are structurally analogous to Urban's platform-plus-transaction ambition in a much larger market.
• Rightmove: Rightmove is the UK's dominant residential property portal. Comparable to Urban as a vertical real estate marketplace, it illustrates how a specialist listings platform can scale to a category leader in a national market.
• Realtor.com (Move, Inc.): Realtor.com is a major US residential property marketplace operated by Move, Inc. It competes broadly with Zillow and offers a useful analogue for how new-construction listings can be featured within a larger generalist portal.

Emerging players

• Apartments.com: Apartments.com is a US-focused apartment and rental listing platform. It overlaps with Urban's apartment-centric product focus and demonstrates how vertical apartment marketplaces are structured, although it is rental-skewed rather than off-the-plan.

Others

• CoreLogic Australia: CoreLogic provides Australian property data, analytics, and listing distribution infrastructure used by agents and portals. It is an enabling ecosystem participant rather than a direct competitor, but its data assets are adjacent to Urban's day-one development tracking concept.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/urbancomau
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/urban-com-au

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Urban.com.au