News

News Corp takes majority shareholding in global digital real estate marketing business

DIAKRIT-RGBNews Corp Australia has taken a majority shareholding in DIAKRIT, a digital marketing solutions company for the real estate industry, with NewsLocal also launching a new property website aimed at Chinese-Australian audiences.

DIAKRIT, which creates a suite of visualisation tools and digital content including 2D and 3D floor plan services, photography services and 3D visualisations and animations, is headquartered in Bangkok and has offices in the US, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

The company’s co-founders Fredrik Bergman, Dick Karlsson and Martin Fritze will continue to run the company’s operations together with the existing management team.

News Corp Australasia’s executive chairman Michael Miller said, in a statement: “DIAKRIT’s 3D and rich media content makes buying property much easier by helping people visualise their dream home, enabling them to make more informed decisions.

“In this way DIAKRIT’s technology helps real estate agents and developers present their properties in a far more engaging manner.

“The real estate market here in Australia, the USA and around the world has only just begun leveraging this type of digital content, so the potential is enormous.

“We intend using our reach, digital assets and advertising expertise to further drive DIAKRIT’s growth in new markets, and in turn, our property businesses and real estate agent partners will benefit enormously from utilising DIAKRIT’s expertise and products.”

News Corp Australia has a 61.6% stake in REA Group which operates realestate.com.au. Last week the company posted its quarterly financial results which saw the REA Group’s EBITDA profit increase by U$16m (28%) compared with the previous year.

Sydney Propert Experts LogoThe investment comes as NewsLocal targets Chinese-Australian audiences with the launch of SydneyPropertyExperts.com, an online real estate destination published in both English and Chinese.

The website will feature real estate content targeted specifically towards the Chinese community, including market trends, new developments, suburb hotspots and foreign investment issues.

Kathy Lipari, editor-in-chief NewsLocal, said in a statement: “NewsLocal is the leader in local real estate coverage in Sydney and we identified a gap in the market for expert real estate content and analysis tailored specifically to our Chinese-Australian audiences.

“SydneyPropertyExperts.com utilises the expertise and resources of the NewsLocal real estate team to provide comprehensive information in both English and Chinese to Chinese real estate buyers.”

The content team will be headed up by NewsCorp NSW real estate editor Tim McIntyre who has been with News Corp for the past three years covering real estate. Prior to that he was the editor of Key Media’s Your Mortgage magazine for one year and worked across Your Investment Property magazine before that.

He will be supported by Shayne Collier, Brendan Wong, Erin Forster and Alison Cheung.

Michael Wilkins, general manager NewsLocal, said: “SydneyPropertyExperts.com is another example of how NewsLocal extends beyond the printed product to offer a true cross-platform experience for our audiences. We have listened to the feedback from our readers and the real estate team and are excited to deliver this unique in-language product to the market.”

SydneyPropertyExperts.com will feature the following sections:

  • Investment – allowing savvy property buyers to do their due diligence, stay informed and enhance their portfolios.
  • Feature Properties – showcasing the best homes on the market in Sydney, with a digital walkthrough concentrating on the important features plus a range of internal and external pictures.
  • Market Reports – offering a street level view of the real estate markets of specific suburbs, council areas and other regions of interest. These include the latest sales results, growth and yield figures and infrastructure and amenity news.
  • Ask the Experts – taps into the extensive knowledge of the biggest real estate industry players in Sydney, including the top auctioneers, CEOs of the biggest real estate and development firms, market and data analysts, and mortgage experts.
  • Development – explores the latest projects from Australian and Chinese development companies, with extensive information about company history, prior work, future plans and insights from those behind the projects.
  • Latest News – the latest property news stories.
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