Jonathan Chancellor sells Property Observer to Urban.com.au
Off-the-plan property marketplace, Urban.com.au has acquired Property Observer, with the subsequent merger of the two platforms effective from today, 11 December.
Property Observer was founded in 2011 by Jonathan Chancellor (former Property editor at The Sydney Morning Herald) while at Private Media (publisher of Crikey and Smart Company) and quickly established itself as a leading property investment news website. Chancellor acquired full ownership from Private Media in 2015. Chancellor and his team of five will be joining Urban.com.au, Chancellor will assume the role of editor-in-chief.
Urban.com.au (formerly Urban Melbourne) was founded by Mark Baljak and Alastair Taylor in 2013 as a property blog and online news portal. In 2018 Mike Bird and George Glover became majority shareholders and has since evolved to become a one-stop-shop for home-hunters seeking information for off-the-plan apartment and townhouse projects and developers across Australia. Bird and Glover, are also majority shareholders of Social Garden; an independent 50-person performance marketing agency specialising in property development and higher education.
George Glover and Mike Bird.
Urban.com.au houses information on over 10,000 developments including 2,500 active development listings across Australia, and is used by many of the country’s largest developers.
The acquisition of Property Observer will add an estimated 200,000 unique monthly users to the Urban.com.au platform and is expected to more than double the annual audience reach to approximately 4 million.
“The addition of the Property Observer news service, and the searchable back-catalogue of articles that will be available for our users, just adds another dimension to the portal and provides even more value for home buyers,” said chief executive officer, Mike Bird.
“What Jonathan and his team have created with their independent approach to Property Observer aligns with our values and we share Jonathan’s belief that transparency and education are the key ingredients to a successful property buying journey.”
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Olivia Kruimel is the managing editor at Mumbrella. She has more than 15 years of experience in journalism, communications and marketing. Her journalism career began at Fairfax Media (now part of Nine) and includes various B2B publications such as B&T, Travel Today and ALB. As a marketer Olivia has worked for Standard Chartered and various global law firms.
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