How much is my house worth?
How REA uses product design to tap into Australians' emotions and aspirations
For Joe Evans, checking his home's value on REA's realEstimate tool had become a monthly ritual - a simple indulgence, but one that filled him with outsized satisfaction. As the number ticked up yet again, he couldn't help but imagine the possibilities it represented for his family's future.
Calling out the valuation to his wife Clare with equal parts pride and disbelief, Joe knew the estimate didn't actually transfer any cash to their bank accounts. But there was something undeniably gratifying about watching their largest investment compound before his eyes, untapped equity accruing with every refresh.
REA has a network effect any startup would kill for. Its market share in home listings isn't going anywhere. But REA knows that maintaining market share isn't enough – they need to keep growing revenue. And they've got two options:
Expand the market by increasing listings. According to REA's 2022 consumer survey, two-thirds of prospective sellers never list their property. To get them to list, REA needs to give them the confidence to put their house on the market.
Develop new revenue streams. When consumers use REA, they're already contemplating a big purchase. What complementary products can REA sell them in that moment?
To do this, REA needs to engage consumers, not just agents. How do you capture customer attention when your product is only needed once a decade?
REA has devised a fun game called "How Much Is My House Worth?" All you have to do is enter the address for your home on REA's website, and it will show you an estimate of the property's value. Then you can come back the next month and see if the estimate went up or down. It's a simple game, but hugely popular - in February 2024, one in four Australian homeowners tracked their home's value on REA's site, up 41% from a year earlier.
For most Australians, their home represents their single biggest asset and store of wealth. So seeing that home valuation number inevitably taps into deeply resonant emotions and aspirations around building net worth and long-term financial security, which they then associate with REA. When they decide to list their property, REA is the obvious choice.
Not only does realEstimate build REA’s brand by gamifying home ownership, but it also gives homeowners the confidence to sell their home today. This should help unlock those two-thirds of prospective sellers and get them to list.
And upsells? Mortgage referrals are an obvious choice, but getting people to enter all their mortgage details is about as easy as getting a toddler to sit still for a family photo.
One of the biggest challenges in consumer product design is getting users to complete boring, tedious tasks like filling out forms. Every question makes the user more likely to give up and open TikTok. REA realised that the key to getting users to complete a task is to give them a clear incentive, something that makes the effort feel worthwhile. And what better incentive for homeowners than finding out how much of their house they actually own?
So, REA started inserting questions about users' mortgage details into a flow that shows them their home equity growth. Suddenly, the tedious task of entering loan information becomes a means to an end – a way to unlock valuable insights about their financial situation.
And it seems to be working. Mortgage leads are up 27% year-over-year. Despite only launching six months earlier REA reported in February that Mortgage Choice Freedom, powered by Athena Home Loans1, now accounts for 6% of all refinance submissions.
So, what can we learn from this?
Emotions and incentives are at the core of consumer product design. REA demonstrates how if you can find a way to tie a user's actions to something they actually care about – whether it's their financial well-being, their social status, or just their innate curiosity – you're much more likely to keep them interested and motivated, deepening brand affinity in the process.
Airtree portfolio company