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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Jen Melocco

An exciting new view to buying a home

Antony Catalano, the co-owner and Executive Chairman of View Media Group and ACM, is a property expert.

And the former CEO of Domain knew that there was a problem when searching for a home that needed to be answered.

While there are 11 million homes in Australia only a small fraction are currently listed for sale.

"Personally, I've knocked on doors in order to source properties that I want to buy that have not been on the market," Mr Catalano said.

View.com.au, to launch September 30, opens up the whole of the property market to all Australians without actually having to do the door knocking.

"What View will do is give you a view of 11 million properties in Australia," said Antony Catalano, the co-owner and Executive Chairman of View Media Group and ACM. Picture supplied

"What View will do is give you a view of 11 million properties in Australia, not just the 150,000 that are for sale currently.

"That way you have the opportunity to buy the house that's right for you, not just the one that's currently on the market"

He sees the development as being similar to how Uber transformed transport.

"I compare the process a little bit to the old taxi industry which could give you a car, but it had to be yellow in colour and the operator would tell you could only have the next one of these that was available.

"But what Uber said was that every car is available at any time and any colour."

Being able to get a view of the total property market is just one way that View will set itself apart.

It also looks to be a one-stop shop for all aspects of buying property, differentiating it from what currently exists.

"What we aim to do is be very different from the incumbents. So where they are predominantly listings portals, we intend to be the whole of the property cycle.

"Rather than just focusing on listings revenue, which is the way that the traditional property portals focus and is a billion dollar advertising space, we are looking at the mortgage market, the insurance market and the connections market.

"The process of buying is a much longer journey than the simple transaction of buying," Mr Catalano said. Picture Shutterstock

"We see the market as being a $300 billion category."

That approach fits into the reality of making a move into the property market today.

"The process of buying is a much longer journey than the simple transaction of buying," Mr Catalano said.

"Once you have bought a house you need to ensure the house you need to get a mortgage for the house, you need to connect to gas, electricity and water.

"There isn't a site in Australia that allows you to have all of those property related transactions in one place.

"And so View Media Group is really attempting to create a real estate superstore where you can do all those things that are property related in one place."

View Media Group, which was launched by Mr Catalano along with co-owner Alex Waislitz last year has attracted investment from major media and financial players.

Big four bank, ANZ, invested $50 million into View Media Group in February this year, six months after the group was formed.

It follows Seven West Media who tipped $100 million in cash and media services into the group last year.

Today View Media Group includes property portal View along with apartments and developments company AD Group, digital marketing company and proptech firm The Today Business.

The View Media Group also owns shareholdings in utilities connections platform Beevo and is the largest shareholder in data and AI business Propic.

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